RDRUNR wrote:
From my perspective some answers to your questions:
1. Printing money is not inflationary, spending it is. Thus far not all of tarp has been spent, QE1 and QE2 haven't been spent.
2. Yes I do. Seems the world population (even China at billions) believe more in the US and it's economy than 100 million Amercians do.
3. By budgeting responsibily. They will be forced and it will suck, but in the end, US will be stronger than ever.
4. The US Gov't showing some backbone to cut spending, raise interest rates and in turn this would restore confidence.
"If many people think cash is good, then expecting hyperinflation is the contrarian play". Seems like many are majority are running the opposite way and betting against the USD, thus those in cash are true contrarians, those in PMs are followers.
FYI There are 300 million Americans.
I'm curious what makes you think the US Gov't is going to "show some backbone to cut spending" or "budget responsibly." Have you noticed that in the recent fighting over raising the borrowing ceiling the only thing they could agree on was to allow more borrowing of money? The Republicans are committed to no tax increases and the Dems are committed to no spending cuts. In fact the only thing they can agree on is more tax cuts - Obama supported a "temporary" decrease in the payroll tax.
What is going to change that? Do you really think that if the economy begins to tank even more, if the financial markets get even more panicky, that the response of the government is going to be to raise taxes and cut spending to balance the budget? That is not going to happen. The only debate will be about how much additional spending and how much more tax cutting to do to "stimulate" the economy.
The government hasn't been responsible about the budget in thirty years, not even in the boom years of the 1990s - in fact that's when government spending ramped up even more. There is no chance at all that they are going to start being responsible now with an unemployment rate continuing to hover around 10%.
They will borrow more, which will require the Fed to print oney to buy the bonds (indirectly). They will do it because the people will insist that they do it, by insisting that taxes not be raised and spending not be cut.
How many people do you know personally who have bought gold? I do not know a single one! I have friends who have talked about it but not one has bought it - they keep waiting for it to drop before they buy, and then when it does drop they get greedy and want it to drop even more, and miss their chance.
Gold is insurance against government monetary collapse. You buy home owner insurance, health insurance, car insurance - you should buy some monetary collapse insurance. Five or ten percent of your assets in physical gold coins, held permanently as insurance. But almost no one is doing that. The buyers of gold are mainly the big players, the Central Banks. The little guy is screwing himself by selling what little gold he has (in jewelry) for a fraction of its value to the "We Buy Gold!" people.
Become your own little Central Bank and get yourself some gold reserves. Do not rely on the beneficence of the government. They will do whatever keeps them in power, and what keeps them in power is printing money, not imposing austerity. Hyperinflations do not cost government bureaucrats their jobs. The chairman of the central banks of Zimbabwe and the Weimar Republic still had their jobs after the hyperinflations in those countries.