3 ms·

What Happens If Things Go Really Badly? $15 Trillion of Debt in Default

9 points by erikstarck 16y ago

c1sc0 16y ago
So, where would HN users move their money in a scenario like this? My homecountry is on the default list.
- erikstarck 16y ago
  Plan A: buy gold. Plan B: buy a shotgun, a motorcycle, lots of fuel and fresh water.
  - mattmillr 16y ago
    (a) Gold: shiny, heavy, and generally useless. Valuable only if someone else agrees it is valuable. (b) Guns, ammo, food, and fuel: Useful. Inherently valuable and good for barter.
    - wil2k 16y ago
      Well, although you can't eat it, gold has been considered to be of value for a good couple of millenia. Why? because you can't print more of it. And a gold coin can represent more food that you can carry with you. Fiat money is consists just dead trees with ink on them or worse, it's created digitally. The story goes that over half of the current USD money supply has been created in the last 4-5 years or so... can you say inflation?!? :O
    - patrickgzill 16y ago
      Please cite historical examples showing cases where a person with physical gold in their hand, went hungry if food was available in the area they were in.
  - wallflower 16y ago
    A classic first-person survival account. Argentina after TSHTF http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2008/01/most-important-need-in-first-few-days.html http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2008/01/most-important-need-in-fi...
- GiraffeNecktie 16y ago
  Canada
- c1sc0 16y ago
  Where does Switzerland rate? Is that still a safe-haven or just hype?
anthony_barker 16y ago
WILL GROWING GOVERNMENT DEBT FORCE A DEFAULT IN JAPAN? Unlikely. That's mainly because Japan has almost no foreign currency-denominated debt obligations and more than 90 percent of Japanese government bonds are held by domestic investors, who are typically risk averse. It is also the world's largest creditor nation, with net external assets of 225.5 trillion yen, and it still enjoys a current account surplus. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE60P0BH20100127 http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE60P0BH20100127 For safe investments jewelry and Art do well in turbulent times: http://books.google.ca/books?id=tuxGXgJ_HEwC&pg=PA222&lpg=PA222&dq=Barton+Biggs+jewelry+investments&source=bl&ots=QOTXH5nGG7&sig=lxhgoJotxQe7KozfICjJ5FUas7E&hl=en&ei=FHdETN3ZMMSAnQfXleC-Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.ca/books?id=tuxGXgJ_HEwC&pg=PA222&#3...

9 points by erikstarck 16y ago

c1sc0 16y ago

So, where would HN users move their money in a scenario like this? My homecountry is on the default list.

erikstarck 16y ago
Plan A: buy gold. Plan B: buy a shotgun, a motorcycle, lots of fuel and fresh water.
- mattmillr 16y ago
  (a) Gold: shiny, heavy, and generally useless. Valuable only if someone else agrees it is valuable. (b) Guns, ammo, food, and fuel: Useful. Inherently valuable and good for barter.
  - wil2k 16y ago
    Well, although you can't eat it, gold has been considered to be of value for a good couple of millenia. Why? because you can't print more of it. And a gold coin can represent more food that you can carry with you. Fiat money is consists just dead trees with ink on them or worse, it's created digitally. The story goes that over half of the current USD money supply has been created in the last 4-5 years or so... can you say inflation?!? :O
  - patrickgzill 16y ago
    Please cite historical examples showing cases where a person with physical gold in their hand, went hungry if food was available in the area they were in.
- wallflower 16y ago
  A classic first-person survival account. Argentina after TSHTF http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2008/01/most-important-need-in-first-few-days.html http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2008/01/most-important-need-in-fi...
GiraffeNecktie 16y ago
Canada
c1sc0 16y ago
Where does Switzerland rate? Is that still a safe-haven or just hype?

anthony_barker 16y ago

WILL GROWING GOVERNMENT DEBT FORCE A DEFAULT IN JAPAN? Unlikely. That's mainly because Japan has almost no foreign currency-denominated debt obligations and more than 90 percent of Japanese government bonds are held by domestic investors, who are typically risk averse. It is also the world's largest creditor nation, with net external assets of 225.5 trillion yen, and it still enjoys a current account surplus. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE60P0BH20100127 http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE60P0BH20100127 For safe investments jewelry and Art do well in turbulent times: http://books.google.ca/books?id=tuxGXgJ_HEwC&pg=PA222&lpg=PA222&dq=Barton+Biggs+jewelry+investments&source=bl&ots=QOTXH5nGG7&sig=lxhgoJotxQe7KozfICjJ5FUas7E&hl=en&ei=FHdETN3ZMMSAnQfXleC-Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.ca/books?id=tuxGXgJ_HEwC&pg=PA222&#3...