if the global economy was about to melt down

[leftofthedial]

what would you do with your assets?

real estate?
stock market?
bonds?
metals?
cash?
big party?

[Goldmund]

1. Friskies

[barb162]

3. and Friskies too! How could I forget that

[barb162]

2. commodities probably, metals and other types

[leftofthedial]

14. wouldn't it have to be something you coudl have physical

possession of?

[barb162]

25. depends on the depth of meltdown

If it were a total meltdown, I would envision a barter economy as cash, gold, etc., would be meaningless. People would be trading tomatos for clothes. Reminds me of the situation in Germany after WW1 where people had to to take wheelbarrels full of worthless paper money for a loaf of bread.

[Deja Q]

4. Party, hookers, do what I can to enjoy what little of life remains,

before I die.

[paula777]

5. This is something you have to do BEFORE the melt down, right?

because in Argentina when it happened people couldn't access their bank accounts anymore. I assume the same thing would happen here. If you haven't invested in commodaties (or whatever) before the collapse, you are pretty much screwed I guess.

[LaurenG]

6. Land, seeds, a well and

lots and lots of wood and bicycle tires plus a few good horses.

[leftofthedial]

12. and guns and ammo?

[LaurenG]

13. Yes and some protection n/t

[bemildred]

7. Booze, tobacco, guns, and ammo.

And food is not bad, but it's bulky.

[Kraklen]

8. Camaros, shot guns, Australian Shepard dogs, leather jackets.

And sand! It's just sand!

[leftofthedial]

10. can I trick out some motorcycles with machine guns and spikes

and stuff too?

[Kansas Wyatt]

9. Bulldozer to crash into gated communities and mansion walls.

[leftofthedial]

11. and then?

[Selatius]

15. I'd advocate people voluntarily forming mass collectives

We'll pool what we own together for the mutual survival of all involved. Farmers, doctors, teachers, mechanics, machinists, grocers, carpenters, whatever--we'll be open to all to join.

The resources would be administered at the local level according to democratic principles, most likely a form very close to or is direct democracy.

We'll network with other communities of people who have done the same and form a sort of confederation or coalition of communities.

When the system fails, people have to cooperate or die of starvation or die in the chaos.

[LaurenG]

19. I absolutely agree with this NT

[leftofthedial]

20. beginning where?

[Selatius]

27. Well, it could start with you in your local community

All it takes is somebody like you or me putting the idea out at the local level. It would be repeated over and over again in many communities across America. I would be out there advocating this in the aftermath of such a catastrophic collapse, and there are others like me out there as well who would do the same. I'm not the only one; I'm one of a legion of people with these ideas. The thing is no one has been listening to us because we're considered "communists" and have been ignored or marginalized by the corporate news media.

When the old economy or the government or both collapse for whatever reason, it'll be time to find a new way, a way that is sustainable for humanity and the planet as a habitable world. With the way things are going now, either humanity will destroy itself, or it will be destroyed when mother nature collapses from the strain of rampant hyperdevelopment and the exhaustion of resources and global warming.

The type of world I'd be willing to fight and die for is a world someone like George Orwell himself saw once and noted in his book Homage to Catalonia written in the context of the Spanish Civil War:

I had dropped more or less by chance into the only community of any size in Western Europe where political consciousness and disbelief in capitalism were more normal than their opposites. Up here in Aragon one was among tens of thousands of people, mainly though not entirely of working-class origin, all living at the same level and mingling on terms of equality. In theory it was perfect equality, and even in practice it was not far from it. There is a sense in which it would be true to say that one was experiencing a foretaste of Socialism, by which I mean that the prevailing mental atmosphere was that of Socialism. Many of the normal motives of civilized life – snobbishness, money-grubbing, fear of the boss, etc. – had simply ceased to exist. The ordinary class-division of society had disappeared to an extent that is almost unthinkable in the money-tainted air of England; there was no one there except the peasants and ourselves, and no one owned anyone else as his master.

I think such a world is worth fighting for.

[barb162]

26. A friend and I were talking about this about a year ago

especially when the oil situation gets really bad. Form collectives, grow food, etc.

[MazeRat7]

16. Thats easy....

Immediately file for chap 11 and stop paying all debts

Convert everything to cash.

Convert the cash to gold.

Move to a "developing" nation and setup shop.


MZr7

[Selatius]

17. Thanks to Congress passing that atrocious bankruptcy bill, it will...

be more difficult than before to file for bankruptcy.

[MazeRat7]

18. "claiming" and "filing" are different.

I doubt seriously I will be around for the hearing and if everything really did go to shit... it just wouldn't matter. But if not, once the dust settles, there would be a record of my filing petition and the possibility I could come back and amend it.

In otherwords... its a hedge for a "do-over" just in case anarchy is avoided.

MZr7

on edit: I am using the word "file" as in making/filing a petition and the word "claim" as in grainted/approved by the court. Just to be clear since my choice of language was not.

[barb162]

24. Problem is I don't think gold will carry the weight/charisma it had

before through the centuries. When you get down to it, you'll be talking things like food, clothing and shelter and not many people would be interested in gold.

[DS9Voy]

21. What assets?

[leftofthedial]

22. you know

a few aluminum cans

the change lost in the chair cushions

the cash flow revenue stream from the blood plasma sales

[DS9Voy]

23. All I can say is I'm not too worried

I've got around $3000 in "assets".

It would be the republicans who lose everything on this one.