whoa fellers, we're not talking about someone's wife or kids here, it's just investing and all the different ways to skin a cat.
If we were only talking about investing I doubt we would be 150 posts into this topic. There's a consensus among many 24hr members who post on topics such as this that the collapse of the U.S. dollar/economy is inevitable. For them this is not about investing, it really is about their wife, kids, and their own survival.
As I have pointed out before, in such a collapse food would be in short supply. This is because our complex agriculture, transportation and distribution system would cease to exist or at least suffer great damage. It's not like it was at the start of the Great Depression when small family farms were the rule and where draft animals were still a major part of the farming process. Modern farming needs chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, equipment, spare parts, and fossil fuel as does the transportation and distribution systems. How do you run that without a working economy?
Depending on the timing, extent and depth of the crises, food production and distribution could experience a 75% shortfall and many would die of starvation. If you find yourself in that situation, what would you rather have, gold or food? If you have the means to have both, then great. If you have the means and really want to be prepaid for the worst case then move to a farm and buy all the food, fuel, medicine, tools, spare parts, guns, ammo, and supplies that you'll need for many years.
If you don't have the means to prepare for every contingency and/or don't see the collapse of the U.S. dollar/economy as inevitable, what can a person do to protect their assets? I've suggested investing in TIPS through various funds as a relatively low risk way of protecting assets from any level of inflation. Yes, gold is another way to do that, but it's become apparent that there is a significant downside risk at current prices as explained by Jon Nadler in the links I have posted.
with that said, MacLorry or others, if you'd be so inclined, I'd really appreciate how you think our economy grows or booms again especially in light of the ever increasing Fed debt (which I've noted I believe is understated)
I have posted before that there's this thing known by some as the Brazilian plan. It's how Brazil got out of their mess, which was to institute high inflation (it got up to 5,000%), but allow citizens to protect their assets through special accounts. The plan basically erases the debt without a technical default.
The Treasure only started issuing TIPS in 1997 and would stop issuing new TIPS around the time the Brazilian plan is put into high gear, so you have to be invested before high inflation hits in order to make out. The other means Brazil used was to allow citizens to place money in overnight accounts that gained enough interest in one night to offset the average daily inflation rate, but deposits had to be made in person each day, which meant long lines at the bank, but that requirement filtered out foreign investors.
Given a choice between monetizing the debt or allowing the dollar/economy to collapse, guess which choice the American people will pick? Some think the people will choose mass suicide, but I don't.
It seems China and Russia realize the U.S. is in the process of
monetizeing the debt and are reducing their exposure to the dollar. Myself, I'm investing in TIPS funds, real property, and other known anti-inflation investments along with 25-year shelf-life food just in case people do choose mass suicide over inflation. I do have gold and silver, but I bought it when it was cheap, so I have no downside risk of holding it.
Here's more information on
TIPS 
