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The Dollar, Less Almighty; Gold Hits Record (lip)

Old_JoeOld_Joe
edited April 2011 in Off-Topic
Buffett: “If you ask me if the U.S. dollar is going to hold its purchasing power fully at the level of 2011 five years, 10 years or 20 years from now, I would tell you it will not.”

-> The Dollar, Less Almighty

"The U.S. dollar is in the midst of a severe downtrend. So the dollar is not the safe haven..."

-> Gold Hits Record, Dollar Tumbles

Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    yup...better buy gold and hid it in the safe
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    I'm anything but a goldbug, and neither is Warren Buffett. But if you think that serious inflation ain't a'comin', then I got a great deal for you on a bridge...
  • scott
    Buffett isn't, but his father certainly was.
  • ShostakovichShostakovich
    Stagflation could be the more serious risk here.

    If one goes long the usual hedges, at what point does one jump off the train?

    An acquaintance who works in financial services commented to me midway through the Bear, Stearns/2008-2009 crisis "...do not expect to see full employment again in your lifetime...or perhaps even your childrens'...".

    Different times are coming.

    Increasingly, I think my parents (recently retired, and avoided the 2009-2009 crash) probably inherited as good a stock market as any will ever see.

    Whether one is employed or not, these could be tough times for some time forward.
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    Hey there Shost- you must have been listening to some of our dinner conversations.

    You know, it seems to me that the entire basis for our economy has always been an ever-expanding consumption of... everything.

    Look at Europe for both a contrast and a probable indicator of things to come. Going back two or three hundred years, Europe had just about run out of free (unused/unowned) land and pretty well exhausted the local supply of construction timber. There was a darned good reason that so many of the younger Europeans migrated here: resources.

    Well, here it was certainly a different story. Need more or better land? Go west. Have a bunch of kids who need land? Go west. Need lumber? Cut it down. Need almost anything else in the way of resources? Get rid of a few more Indians and... take it. Well, I grew up in the westernmost area of San Francisco, and guess what? In my lifetime I have seen the westernmost and last significant housing development in the US. When I was a kid there still was a fair amount of buildable land here in SF, but there sure isn't now.

    So the US economy has pretty much always been a sort of Ponzi scheme- use more, produce more, have more kids, start all over again- work/buy/take/use... an endless cycle. Except that I think now it's ending. Work? Sorry- you'll have to go to China for that. Buy? Well, we have some stuff for you... maybe not great quality, but really inexpensive... from China. Take? Sorry- all gone... no more Indians. Use? Sure... as long as you can pay for it. Wait a minute here... now we're back to the work part if we have to pay for it...lemmee see here...

    So yes, I really think that you are right: "Whether one is employed or not, these could be tough times for some time forward."

    Regards- OJ
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