Investments

Looks like the stock market will end the year in rough shape. When the financial guys talk about the worse loses since the lead up to the 1930 depression, you know something's wrong.

Bitcoin took some bad hits not that long ago. While I'm attracted to the idea of non-state sponsored money, Bitcoin has some flaws. We now see it's as susceptible to manipulation as any other financial instrument. Then there's the whole idea of Bitcoin mining. To me, it just seems wasteful to have computer power and massive amounts of electricity doing what's essentially non-productive work.

Gold and silver traditionally hold their value. However, there's the little issue of being able to transfer that value into useful items. The local Walmart won't take your precious metals for groceries. In the early days of financial collapse, cash is still king. Later on, it's possible that mechanisms for the exchange of metals could develop. After Argentina's financial collapse, black market stores eventually would take metals for consumer items. That didn't happen overnight.

The bulk of my income comes from my state pension. My guess is that it survive the early waves of private pension failures. I also suspect that its real world value will then plummet. However, as long as I can pay the basic bills for a while we should be good. Nothing is guaranteed, of course. I've come to accept a certain amount of unpredictability.

So what am I'm invested in? Well, recently I bought a burlap bag full of garbanzo beans. You may laugh, but I can eat the beans, unlike stocks, bitcoin, or precious metals. I'm a simple man.

-Sixbears