I can't imagine why it would make me happy. I want a strong, vibrant economy. A lot of the reasons are selfish; if there's a strong, vibrant economy, there's more chance that I can make more money.
I do think that, unfortunately, we're headed for tough economic times, but that is not a source of happiness for me.

Forgive my tongue in cheek comment, arbi. I said that only because you seem to post a lot of this sort of thing, not because I believe you want the economy to fail. If I posted an interview with an economist that was all rosy and telling us to relax and that things are not as bad as they seem, you'd be all over that with evidence to the contrary, wouldn't you?

Anyway. Bad joke on my part.

Yikes. I don't want this to be the beginning of our economy's collapse. But from this perspective (on the ground), it's hard to be optimistic.

Glenn is a doom and gloom kind of guy.  He admits it.  But, I am also finding it hard to be optimistic about our economy.  Glenn has been talking about the problems for over a year.  And he has some interesting guests on his show to talk real about the problems. 

This graph of non borrowed reserves may be interesting to some.

Don't give in to the Pride, coco. Resist! For the good of your own soul, Resiiiiiiiisst!

Arbi,

Your graph really scares me.

I have a good deal of $ in an institution that is the farthest in debt than all the other banks.

Tomorrow, I'm going to transfer most of that amount to my account at Zion's in Utah. I hope I'm not making a mistake but am worried about JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America where I have most of my funds.

-- Edited by Mahonri at 05:35, 2008-03-19

And I served a mission with the grandson of the chairman of the board of Zion's Bank. Of course, that was 13 years ago. I have no idea if the same person is still chairman of the board.
Mahonri, if things get really bad, it may not matter where your money is. I'm hoping that things don't get that bad. I know that it frequently doesn't seem this way from my posts, but I'm a big fan of modern conveniences, and don't want anything throwing a wrench in that.

Ok - I am thinking of buying silver. How do I go about that? Do I just show up at the bank and say "100 ounces of silver please"?

You've purchased metals from them, arbi? how does it work? I am extremely leery about sending money out of state hoping they'll send back the coins. I'd rather do it in person if possible. But if you've traded with them and been happy, I'd like to hear your experience. Thanks.

I have not personally traded with them. I haven't had the opportunity to buy precious metals yet. But they have a regular radio show on a local radio station in Colorado (that I think has been syndicated to radio stations in other states), they help to financially support the station, and they have been around for a while. They show up every year at a 4th of July picnic that the radio station puts on. If I were to buy silver or gold, it would be from them.
Be warned, though, that they are much more pessimistic about the economy than I am.

I think we are better served before getting precious metals by getting our food storage in order and getting rid of debt. You can't each gold and you can't stack the coins up to provide shelter.

I agree. I'm planning on seeing what my "junk" coins are worth soon. If it is worth my time I will sell them and use the $$$ for preparedness items.

I bought my silver coins at the local pawn shop. They called up to see what the price was that day and there was a minimal "service fee" or whatever you want to call it and bada-bing! I was carrying them home.

Woah ho ho!  I love google.

Here's some helpful info on silver: all about different sizes of bullion as well as coins, and which is the best value for your purposes.

Here's a directory of LOCAL silver dealers:  You can search by state and zip code.  There's actually one right here in my TOWN!!  Yippeeeeee!

That's what I was thinking too, historian, about hte junk silver. I'm leaning toward either that, or the 1 oz rounds.

AFAIK junk silver is mostly old silver coins that are not in perfect condition -- no coin collector would want it. Also, silver rings or forks or whatever that does not have extra value because it's collectible.

You're cute, Coco.

If he's interested in silver, he'd probably be glad to take your coins. Some forks are smaller, so you could offer less silver for that burger. And forks have uses besides exchange.

Also, if you yearn for my radish, you could offer me an old dime, and that would probably be fair. You wouldn't want to give me a whole ounce for something small, and I wouldn't necessarily have enough stuff to sell at that moment to justify your giving me an ounce coin for it. Think of it as buying everything in 12 or 14 dollar bills, no change available.

We have heard about people dividing coins up in olden times, and I guess we could, but dimes and quarters are easier. How would you feel, asking to borrow someone's axe so you could chop up a coin, and then dickering about who got the big half?