Wall Street fears for next Great Depression

Originally posted by whatsup
reply to post by skyshow

 

Good point skyshow! It's a simple matter of "if you are going to play, then you are going to pay" and it's now pay up time!

It also means heed the warning signs and do as much to mitigate the personal damage you may suffer... I agree with skyshow that we are living way beyond our means. We pegged our dollar to oil and can't force everyone to play that way anymore. I suspect this is the real correction we will see in the US... We are going to get spanked for that one...

I'm glad I own one of my modes of transport outright. (If you count my bike then two) I am still paying on the other beast but they can't take my 2002 4x4 Jeep anymore... I suspect that will be my chariot for a long time to come... That is until gas is $10.00 per gallon. Then driving really becomes the exception to the rule!

reply to post by windwaker


Do you feel foreign currency is going to be more stable than precious metals such as gold or silver? Did you go the Euro route thinking that Gold / Silver is over inflated and is going to drop?

I've been thinking about buy silver. That's why I am asking.

reply to post by Perplexed


yeah when it hits $10 per gallon, I actually expect to see many of my neighbors that I don't regularly get to see very much, a lot more on the sidewalk as I pass by them on the way to work. And it will be nice as well to be walking downtown and not have to choke on fumes. AT $10 a gallon, the air is going to be cleaner, and more people will be walking and saying "hi" in person to each other rather than a quick wave with one hand while the other is on the wheel.

reply to post by windwaker


The whole situation reminds me of a huge boat , leaks keep springing up averywhere and people keep plugging the holes with thier fingers.

but soon we are gonna run out of fingers and the boats gonna go down.

Meanwhile Mr Bush smiles and says we are ok in the long term .. in other words please dont look at that here and now.

Originally posted by windwaker
In case of complete meltdown, I put real euros in a safe-deposit box in my bank. I don't have a gun (nor do I wish to) to protect myself if civil unrest breaks out. I'm not sure how I will get to the bank to get the euros if the dollar completely collapses.

I asked the bank teller, just for kicks, if I would be able to get my safe deposit box contents out in case something bad, like a "national emergency" happens. She said that as long as the bank is open, I can. Will the bank be open? I don't know.

If it does meltdown they way you are thinking you aren't getting to the bank let alone into one and if you do who is going to trade you what for your Euros?

A complete breakdown of social services & the rule of law and you are going to rely on what the bank lady tells you? You have a good idea to eat on the cheap but you better diversify into some tangible stuff. If you don't want to own a gun you better have a very fast "Exit Strategy" or you will become a victim... You may not get whacked but you will be left with nothing and end up in a FEMA camp.

That is if the worst does happen.. You may end up a rich king with your Euros and Gold and I may end up your slave some day. Its the bets we all "Hedge against" I suppose...

reply to post by skyshow


The Euro is only going to be stable for a while if a really serious recession or depression hits. It will last longer than the USD however. I bought gold because that's the only thing that has real value. (I didn't buy silver because I was hard pressed for time, since the value of the dollar drops by the minute. I couldn't find a silver stock that I liked...I had no idea what was going to happen today in the market, so I bought th GLD shares as soon as it opened.)

For all we know, the DOW could have dropped 5% today, and the value of the US dollar would have plummeted even further.

My strategy is to convert my money into many different currencies to hedge the risk hoping that this will be enough. If there is a complete crash, there's not much I can do, but at least I wont have the USD. It would kill me to have all of the gains from my hard work equal zero. My life isn't good enough for me to stomach that.

I am actually working so that I can have a fun life with beautiful women involved and lots of frolic, so I don't like the idea of being poor and penniless in a third-world country.

Gold is way to high already to mess around with with all of my money. I have no idea what tricks the FED will pull to try to boost the USD. People are so emotional now, any decision can send the price of gold either drastically up or down. The euro investment is more of a safe decision right now, but I'm trickling money into precious metals.

I'm trying to diversify between different currencies and precious metals, which is what all of the experts on CNBC and CNBCW (which is a more realistic station than the first) are suggesting.

I haven't read all the posts so forgive me if I repeat anything.

But one of the things people got to remember about the Great Depression, was it was an economic downturn, combined with the Dust Bowl.

Unless we have a calamity (which is possible) on the scale of the dustbowl, a depression like we had before is not as possible.

There have been drops on the market over the past century that were greater then that of the GD. But they were not combined with a calamity like the dust bowl.

But all the drought that is going on right now, who knows........

reply to post by Perplexed


This is true. My plan is to see the tell-tale signs of impending doom, get into the bank a couple of days before, take out my euros, and get an Amtrak ticket and hop-skip to Florida.

Silly, but what else can I do?

I may not be able to buy anything with the Euros, but I'm hoping that the people who sell me stuff wont know that. People will be desperate in such a situation. They wil know that the USD is worthless, and they will need something to cling on to. Better the euro than nothing.

Also, I can't imagine actually having gold in my pockets. I would surely be killed then.

The price of gold is actually cheap.... depending on how you value it.

Inflation Adjustment

I have stayed away from gold. The only thing similar that I personally own is my old silver collection, which I almost got rid of months ago. It has made some nice gains. I will get rid of it very soon though...

What has made me a ton of money lately is soft commodities.... grains. Oats and Canola....

I say bring on the depression. Bring it on!

....this quote is on somebody's signature line, forget who, applies to imminent economic situation(s):

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.

Thomas Jefferson
Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)
3rd president of US (1743-1826)

www.quotationspage.com...

reply to post by Dulcimer


You know? I just realized this. You know what really pisses me off? I'm watching Deal Or No Deal, probably one of the most popular game shows ever invented, all based on big, big dollar amounts...and greed! Offering insane amounts of money that most people will never ever see in their lifetimes.

You see TV commercials about gambling at casinos, about playing the Quick Pick lottery, Mega Millions, Powerball, "Buy Nintendo Wii", "Buy XBox 360", "Buy new cars"...What about TV commercials that tell people sitting on their fat rears to PAY THEIR FREAKING MORTGAGE PAYMENTS AND CREDIT CARD BILLS!

reply to post by Dulcimer


You know? I just realized this. You know what really pisses me off? I'm watching Deal Or No Deal, probably one of the most popular game shows ever invented, all based on big, big dollar amounts...and greed! Offering insane amounts of money that most people will never ever see in their lifetimes.

You see TV commercials about gambling at casinos, about playing the Quick Pick lottery, Mega Millions, Powerball, "Buy Nintendo Wii", "Buy XBox 360", "Buy new cars"...What about TV commercials that tell people sitting on their fat rears to PAY THEIR FREAKING MORTGAGE PAYMENTS AND CREDIT CARD BILLS!

Haha! Yes there really should be commercials like that.

"Its 11pm... do you know where your money is?"

In times like this, you need to be in complete control of your finances. There are far too many people out there that are financially clueless.

reply to post by windwaker


Does anyone know what is going on with the Liberty Dollar (LD), since the feds raided them last fall? With the LD you could either have the coins wich are heavy and bulky to carry around, or you could get paper certificates backed by the gold to use...kind of like Gold and Silver certificates... I was just about to buy and then they got raided. I heard it was because they started minting Gold Ron Paul dollars, but I don't know.

Why can't we also have some currency that is backed up with gold or silver. It seems odd to me that the Federal Reserve Note should have a 100% monopoly on US currency?

Also, more inline with the topic. We may not have the dust bowl, but we do have about 80% of the people now living in urban areas whereas back during the Great Depression about that percentage lived in rural settings where they were better able to raise chickens for eggs, butcher a hog for pork and baccon, and grow their own veggies...also, currently on average, today there is less than 3 days food supply for the masses. That's scary.

My plan is to start setting aside a percentage every month and start putting it into silver. I don't have a lot already, so if everything goes south, I don't have a lot to loose (the higher up you are the farther you have to fall, thank god I'm fairly close to the ground). My main concern is with the food supply. I plan to be highly stocked up, because if things continue, I think we may begin to see food shortages...things will begin to become so expensive, that demand will drop, causing stores to stock less, so that even if you can afford something, it may not be there, particularly with produce...then when some outlet makes a big buy on some comodity, it will sell fast, and then be all gone...but I think we all need enough supply to get us through a week or two incase things get really disrupted...

....related stories:

The homeless population of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina has reached unprecedented levels for a U.S. city: one in 25 residents.

An estimated 12,000 homeless accounts for 4% of New Orleans' estimated population of 302,000, according to the homeless advocacy group UNITY of Greater New Orleans. The number is nearly double the pre-Katrina homeless count, the group says.

"New Orleans' homeless rate swells to 1 in 25"
www.usatoday.com...

The poverty rate for Salt Lake City children leapt from 19% in 1999 to 28.4% in 2006, according to the American Community Survey.

At the Salt Lake City Housing Authority, the number of families waiting for affordable housing grew by almost 2,000 in the last two years, going from 5,426 at the end of 2005 to 7,295 in 2007.

"Rate of poor children in Salt Lake City leaps to 28 percent"
www.sltrib.com...

"More than one in 100 adults behind bars in U.S., 2.3 million"
www.pslweb.org...

"Homeless turn to caravan parks in Australia"
www.news.com.au...

Lastly, from a recent story about one of the worst 'hit' areas from the initial mortgage 'sub-prime' fallout:

"You're talking 10 percent of an entire city becoming homeless," Cardoza said. "I don't know how much worse things can get."

Already, the valley's Stanislaus County, which includes Modesto, is number four on the national rankings of foreclosure rates complied by RealtyTrac, a San-Diego-based firm that monitors foreclosures. San Joaquin County, which includes Stockton, is number two on the list, edged out of the top spot in the latest list by Detroit.

Sleepy Merced County, number five in RealtyTrac's national foreclosure rankings, also has other numbers to worry about: in January, the county's unemployment rate climbed to 13.3 percent, up from 11.9 percent in December, according to figures released last week by the California Employment Development Department. In contrast, the state unemployment rate was about 6 percent, and the national unemployment rate about 5.3 percent.

"Families flock to foreclosure fairs"
www.businessweek.com...

[edit on 17-3-2008 by anhinga]

reply to post by skyshow
When gas hits $10/gal you'd better run to work if you still have a job. People wil be homeless, hungry, and will kill you for a can of beans or your baloney sandwich.

If you don't have a gun, I'd suggest you take a few of those Euros or silver bars and invest in some Krav Maga lessons real quick. When people are hungry, they get desperate, and things they'd never consider doing before come easy.

Don't put all you eggs in one basket people. Banks surely won't be letting you into your safety deposit box if there's a depression on. They put IRS agents in the banks during the great depresion for just such ocassions. They promptly took your gold, silver, or other currencies and converted them into good old USD's on the spot. Do a little googling and you'll see that I'm right.






[edit on 3/17/08 by LLoyd45]

reply to post by skyshow


It's amazing that you don't hear about this at all on the news. Not even CNN. It has to be deliberate.

Is the average Joe being squeezed? What are these Wall Street traders doing every day? Isn't it possible that they poured a lot of money into the market today just to get the average small investor excited and start investing again, only to pull out tomorrow and take profits? They are doing this all the way down, squeezing every last dollar out of the trustful citizens until the market is no more. Better that then have it drop all at once, right? I think this is what is happening. That's why today was an "up" day for the market. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Really, I'm not a hypocrite. What would I do if I had the money? I'd take whatever profits I could make and high tail it out of here. I do not put it past them at all. They still have control over very large amounts of money; we gave them this power with mutual funds and 401Ks.

But...this could really be the best time for us, if there is no economic catastrophe. Never has it been easier to know what to invest in if you have the money. It's just a waiting game. It's an invitation for power to change hands if you have the money to invest now. This is all very evil.

The only stock I've ever invested money in was Livestock. It cackles, crows, oinks, and wiggles it's furry nose. It's not glamorous or Worldly, but it's definitely edible.

Playing with stocks is like gambling in Vegas, eventually you'll get burned. The odds are in their favor. Sure you get a payout once in awhile, but most people don't know how to quit while they're ahead.

Originally posted by windwaker
reply to post by Perplexed

 

This is true. My plan is to see the tell-tale signs of impending doom, get into the bank a couple of days before, take out my euros, and get an Amtrak ticket and hop-skip to Florida.
Silly, but what else can I do?

I almost spit my water on my monitor... We are truly brothers heading in the same direction but with different modes of transport... "tell-tale signs of impending doom" LOL, my gut hurts! Even if it is all true we are some whacky humans! "get an Amtrak ticket and hop-skip to Florida" Stop it! I'm dying over here!

We do think of some really bad scenarios don't we? I'm thinking basic survival and you’re thinking martinis and 007 women!

reply to post by LLoyd45


yep I agree, i have chickens goats ,rabbits , and I'm on the lookout for a good milk cow. Plus I have a garden that will keep me in produce over at least one sumer and winter