Monday, September 22, 2008
Whither the dollar?
Many of the economists I read fear that one of the consequences of a bailout of this kind could be a loss in global confidence in the dollar and the ability of the US to honor its debt. This would be an off the charts worst case scenario, but I think we've seen enough over the past year to justify being open minded about the possibility.
So the question I pose this morning is what can you or I do to insulate ourselves from such a calamity? Let's take a poll!
In the event of a US dollar crisis, I would like to have a significant amount of my net worth invested in:
A) An index of foreign currencies.
B) Gold and silver
C) Productive farmland
D) Single-malt Scotch
E) Can I have some of each, please?
F) It is unpatriotic to have a non-dollar strategy.
MORE from TigerHawk: Let's make this a real poll!
I might add that I am a dollar bull over the long term. Yes, we may abuse the heck out of our currency and the next couple of years may be rocky, but where are you going to invest in the long term? Europe? Japan? Russia? Dubai? The United States remains the best rich country in the world for starting and growing a business.
Unless, of course, we screw it up.
6 Comments:
By 
Yishai, at
Mon Sep 22, 09:36:00 AM:
Heh, awesome. I choose 'E' with a heavy portfolio weighting in D (I'll diversify, though, into Scotch blends)
By Georg Felis, at
Mon Sep 22, 10:08:00 AM:
It is nice to see some actual thought put into surviving/fixing this crash. The Left seems to be determined to run outside the bus so they can claim somebody else was driving when we hit the telephone pole.
By 
, at
Mon Sep 22, 10:37:00 AM:
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.
By , at
Mon Sep 22, 11:48:00 AM:
The best we got going for the dollar is that closest competitor is the euro, and we can almost count on European governments screwing things up worse than we do.
That said, I'm all for holding a basket of foreign currencies.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Mon Sep 22, 01:38:00 PM:
I really like that, with a significant number of votes in, farmland and scotch are tied. I've always respected TH readership but never more than today.
By Donna B., at
Mon Sep 22, 04:44:00 PM:
Since I took the "real" poll, I opted for productive farmland over single malt, because then I would have something to distill and/or brew myself.
I'd rather choose C & D.
