Cash on Monday..

[anxvariety]

From this point on.. until the mess is sorted out, I’m going to pull out every weeks paycheck in cash from the bank on the Friday I get paid/direct deposit and buy bullion. I’ve been doing this to some extent already, but I’m at the point where my instincts tell me that “it” is coming soon… I really do get scared over the weekend, because I feel at any point the cat can jump outta the bag.. and my savings account could be whiped out.. remember, it was Black Monday, not Black Wednesday or Friday…

Does anyone else have these fears? Realizing that something even something as simple as a major electrical outage would lock people out of their funds, has me scared at how the system would deal with any other sort of catasrophe… unless ATM machines have generators and dollar printers? I don’t like the idea of a bank holding my money in these times..

“I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code.”
-Emo Phillips

“Paranoia is the delusion that your enemies are organized.”
– Arthur D. Hlavaty.

“Sometimes paranoia’s just having all the facts.”
William S. Burroughs quotes

“I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying attention to them.”
-Susan Sontag

[4plexowner]

Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they AREN’T out to get me!

[Anonymous]

Chris Johnston

Why do you think overnight, a large scale wipeout could occur at any time? Maybe you are tongue and cheek with that? Gold just recently dropped 22% from it’s recent high, to the low a few days ago. I warned people in here about buying gold up there. Just buying that over the last 2 months could have been a very poor decision. Is that a great hedge against inflation, a 22% loss?

Paper losses are losses. What exactly is it that makes you think we are on verge on a national financial insolvency?

[powayseller]

Ditto here. Gold is down, the dollar is up because everyone wants dollars as Ben is getting ready to raise interest rates again. I think the dollar has long term potential decline issues, but those losses are many years away and they are potential losses.

What do you think of euros for diversification, say 5% of assets? All of Europe is holding euros, and if it’s good enough for them, shouldn’t it be good enough for us? After all, they have a strong economy. I think the petrodollar might become the petroeuro, driving up the demand for euros even more. The downside is that the exchange rate is bad for us right now.

Why should we hold our entire assets in US stocks or US dollars? Isn’t that risky, too?

[anxvariety]

Gold is down.. but it’s trend is still up up up.. this is just an opportunity to buy and be happy that you’re not overpaying…

I don’t think gold is going anywhere.. check the charts for the last 1000 years.

[powayseller]

Anxious for your reply to Chris J’s question.

[anxvariety]

Why do you think overnight, a large scale wipeout could occur at any time?

I’m not claiming to have a crystal ball.. but it’s not like there hasn’t been banking collapses before.. can you think of many worse conditions for the banking system? For 4-5% APR I don’t personally feel that it’s worth the risk..

Hysteria doesn’t create gradual declines.. imagine being in the stock market without having any stop losses set.. that’s how I feel about having my money in banks right now.. do you really think in some mass financial hysteria that you’d be able to walk into your bank and pull out however much money you want? The banks are willing to screw people even in the good times with fees and other garbage while hiding behind engineered beauracracy.. In the bad times, the teller line is not a line I want to stand in…

Did you buy at the top and sell recently? Because you’re talking about 22% losses.. I own bullion and I haven’t lost or gained anything.. because I haven’t sold it.. and if you check my post it says I’m going to start accumluting more bullion.. if it’s 22% off it’s high, that’s great I’ll own even more!

[powayseller]

Which country has a stronger banking system than the US? Where do international investors and central banks put their money? I think the US banking system is still trusted by the majority. Your money is FDIC insured. The government will bail out all banks that need it.

What concerns me more is losing money to inflation. The true inflation is much higher than the official CPI.

My thoughts are more about stores of value, than losing my money.

Again, what makes you think the end is near. Why now? And why do you not trust the FDIC?

[anxvariety]

PS, I don’t have any specific information regarding terrorist attack on FDIC headquarters or the world cracking into 3 peices and floating apart into space.. I’m just thinking that I don’t have much to gain by having money in the banks right now..

Who knows if anything bad will happen.. I just think if something bad does happpen, the little guy/girl won’t be represented too well and won’t know about it until it’s too late…

I wasn’t making a reccomendation to people my making this post.. mostly just seeing if anyone else was doing something like this (pulling their money from banks).

[4plexowner]

You’re not alone anxvariety.

I was buying last week and I’m looking to buy again this week.

I’m hoping to get another strong down-day and I will back up the truck. I might even borrow my neighbor’s truck and back it up too!

Just keep accumulating silver and gold.

powayseller – the FDIC is just another underfunded government agency – in any financial meltdown they will be overwhelmed – and, even if they aren’t overwhelmed, they will be restoring your lost bank account with freshly printed money (ie, you will have less purchasing power after they have ‘made you whole’ even though your account balance will be restored)

[anxvariety]

I wouldn’t be excited if I had a couplle hundred thousand in the bank.. and it was in limbo for months or years while the FDIC sorted out the mess.. that would be a time when I would want as much cash as possible to scavenge/survive the markets.

“Not all economists think that the FDIC is a good idea. The main fear of its critics is that the government will, for very large banks (which they consider “too big to be allowed to fail”), use the FDIC fund money to “bailout” a large bank, rather than letting it fail and paying the up to $100,000 amount per depositor. These economists believe that free market political decision making in this matter will lead to the best net result, and that there is not enough money to adequately use FDIC funds to “prop up” banks. Some advocate privatizing the FDIC insurance money, with the caveat of not allowing the “too big to fail” system. These critics mostly believe that the current FDIC insurance would fail as did the FSLIC, and would require a bailout from the government.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FDIC

“Americans are spending everything they’re making and more, pushing the national savings rate to the lowest point since the Great Depression.

Soaring home prices apparently have convinced people they don’t have to worry about saving, a belief that could be seriously tested as 78 million baby boomers begin to retire. “
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/30/D8FF6D700.html

Anytime we break Great Depression records.. I’m going to get skittish! 🙂

[powayseller]

It is possible that banks will go under as a result of excess real estate loans that go sour, but I don’t see any sign of Americans doubting the banking system. The banks can have a run on their money only if people make a run as a result of losing faith in the banks. It all works on trust.

If a bank fails, the government will print whatever money is necessary to bail out the banks. This printing will put the saver whole, and will affect all Americans, as excess money creation causes inflation. Again, FDI is a safe entitity, backed by the US government.

As far as gold, I would be so worried about someone stealing it. I suppose you put it in a fireproof safe?

Please tell me again where to buy the bullion or coins, as I wish to get a little bit. I will store it off-site, since my address and name are now public.

For various reasons, we should keep some cash and assets on hand, out of electronic accounts. The terrorists could incapacitate our electronic networks, or completely mess them up, or give out our private information for others to mess with, so I see the value of keeping some hard assets on hand. Besides, you cannot get taxed on dividends/appreciation on your gold.

[Doofrat]

Anxvariety,

You said “imagine being in the stock market without having any stop losses set.. that’s how I feel about having my money in banks right now”

Isn’t buying gold bullion like investing in the commodities market (without the margin of course, but still) without any stop losses in place? If gold were to go limit down, do you think you’d find many ready buyers?

[anxvariety]

doofrat, sure.. but look at gold over the last 1000 or 2000 years.. or however long it’s been used..

Maybe we’ll have a magnetic pole reversal on earth and gold will turn into mashed potatos.. but in the meantime, I’m comfortable with ‘storing value’ in something that is accepted worldwide and has value actual value apart from a promise.. plus, with gold you don’t really have to worry about counterfeit, since it costs more money to create than the gold than it’s worth.. unlike paper, which is probably relatively pretty easy and cheap to counterfeit.

Plus.. if anything else, I can have some prety cool earings 🙂

[rseiser]

Powayseller,
Cellar Coin in Pacific Beach was mentioned here before, and I also like the guy.
Good point regarding storage, I would definitely not keep more than a few coins at home. Safe deposit boxes at banks come to mind, but I would even prefer renowned private safe deposit companies, since I agree that the risk of a bank keeping its doors shut one day is real. Does anyone know such a private company in Southern California?

[Author]

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