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Cash concealed in the safest place possible may become sound financial planning.
I’m not a financial guru, which is why I’m seeking financial wisdom from those who are wiser.
In conducting research on the internet I found the following information.
SUGEF, the General Supervisor of Financial Organizations is supposed to guard the solidity and stability of the Costa Rican financial system. http://www.sugef.fi.cr/pagina.asp?lang=0&pagina=servicios/documentos/infgeneral/mision/mision.htm
The SEC, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is supposed to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. http://www.sec.gov/about/whatwedo.shtml
The FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is an independent agency created by the Congress that maintains the stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system by insuring deposits, examining and supervising financial institutions, and managing receiverships. The FDIC is a leader in developing and implementing sound public policies, identifying and addressing new and existing risks in the nation’s financial system, and effectively and efficiently carrying out its insurance, supervisory, and receivership management responsibilities. http://www.fdic.gov/about/mission/index.html
It appears that these government agencies were established to protect the general public’s financial interests.Did SUGEF act responsibly when it shut down the Villalobos brothers to protect more investors from being taken advantage of?
If the SEC failed to protect politically connected socialites by allowing over $50 billion dollars to vanish from Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, what can the average citizen expect in terms of financial security from the US government?
Could the FDIC freeze every account in all US banks and take all the insured deposits to create a national welfare program that would distribute monthly pensions for every citizen to live from?
Are banks in the USA the most secure place to keep your savings?
I’m going back to stashing cash between the mattresses. I don’t trust any of these organizations anymore after this Wall Street meltdown, the bank failures, and $50B scandal by the former head of Nasdaq!
“Could the FDIC freeze every account in all US banks and take all the insured deposits to create a national welfare program that would distribute monthly pensions for every citizen to live from?”
That’s pretty funny. It sounds like the kind of nightmare a rabid libertarian or neo con might have. The exact opposite so far has happened. The government is currently being run by the moneyed old boys network and has handed out bail out money to their rich thieving friends on Wall Street.
My concern is that if the SEC can allow over $50 Billion to vaporize right under their noses, could the FDIC allow a crisis of equal or worse impact to occur in the banking sector.
Are the SEC, the investment watchdog and the FDIC, the banking watchdog, of equal importance, having the same authority powers in their respective sectors?I am no expert. I wonder if there can be experts in this new situation. According to what is being reported, this world economic melt down is new. It has never been seen before and nobody can say for sure that it won’t become a very severe depression, or worse.
If the banking sector fails completely, could it not mean that money itself becomes useless at that point? And by money, I mean anything used to barter other than actual consumable goods. Instead of worrying about where to park useless cash, wouldn;t it be more useful to think about how you could guarantee enough food and energy to survive?
crhomebuilder, the FDIC is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. I believe they act soley as an insurance against individual’s deposits in banks being lost through bank failures. I don’t think they have any oversight authority. They should though, given the current financial situation.
If the federal gov’t just gave $700 billion to bail out Wall Street ( which might turn into $7 trillion,) with only a few days of considering it, then spend weeks debating the US auto industry bailout of only $15 billion, What makes us think they would ever really care about us peons.
The trust we had in government has been weakened by these political hacks that only seem to be watching over us and protecting us, when instead, they they are bought and sold like the cheap suits they are.
As a conservative, I can tell you there are no conservatives left in Washington. It is one big political club now. Republican, democrat, or whatever label you wish to call them by, they are only interested in their own future.
When the entire world is melting down, how is it possible that no one knew this was going to be this bad? How come they only now tell us that the US has been in recession since the last quarter of ’07, when we could have told them that months ago? How come congress made legislation to allow credit card companies to raise interest rates to 29.9%, when the old usary rate was 25%? Lobbyists are buying legislation for the big boys. Our voices are being drowned out by huge sums of money being spread around the halls of congress.
If things get worse, you might see an awakening by the public. If they throw a bone at us, then don’t expect anyone to start raising a fuss.
Are most U.S. banks are bankrupt?
Jim Rogers, one of the world’s most prominent international investors, on Thursday called most of the largest U.S. banks “totally bankrupt,” and said government efforts to fix the sector are wrongheaded. “What is outrageous economically and is outrageous morally is that normally in times like this, people who are competent and who saw it coming and who kept their powder dry go and take over the assets from the incompetent,” he said. “What’s happening this time is that the government is taking the assets from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people and saying, now you can compete with the competent people. It is horrible economics.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4BA5CO20081211I appreciate all wisdom offered and especially enjoyed these recommendations:
1. Hide the metals under the house instead of building with them.
2. If you don’t understand how to conserve or create wealth, inform yourself. One doesn’t pilot a plane before knowing how to. At least learn how to use a parachute.
3. These three Stocks are still your best bet in the short term and the long run during troubled times.
a. STOCK-piles of food in the cupboard.
b. Live-STOCK in the yard.
c. And a STOCK-ade around your home.4. This would never have happened if they had not invented the computer.
5. The best minds of wall street are currently clueless and reduced to throwing money at things with no plans and hoping they will go away. What hope do we mortals have? Let’s hope help is on the way.
6. Stuff that if you drop it on your foot it hurts are the only real safe investments.
7. For the past 3 months no one has been able to take delivery of gold or silver at the London fix. Mints are running 24/7 and can’t keep up with demand.
8. Gold has tripled in value over the last seven years, vastly outperforming Wall Street and European bourses.
Thanks to all and to all a good night!
I forgot to point out that the Federal Reserve is an independent CORPORATION. It is not your government. I am one of those people who believe it SHOULD belong to the government and had that been the case, we might have avoided some of what is happening now.
I am also a little bothered by your suggestion that the computer should never have been invented. I hope you are joking there.
Gold is just another form of currency that we have used in the past and is just as dependent upon the confidence factor as is paper or electronic currencies. You cannot eat gold. At best, gold may serve as a last and temporary defense against a crashing world economy. If the economy recovers, and you have been in gold during that period, you still need to get out of gold to preserve your investment. You are still playing the “time the market” game. If the economy does not recover……ooops.
“Stuff that when you drop on your foot, hurts are the only real investments?”
Really? Tell that to all the commodity investors who recently lost a lot of money..including gold investors.I think if it gets to the point that you are tempted to bury cash or gold in your yard, you might be better off using that shovel to plant a survival garden. And DO put up that wall with concertina wire, load up on ammo and dogs.
Edited on Dec 15, 2008 05:42
It’s being rumored that gold will shoot up to $2K/oz in the next year or so, based on a lot of factors, including the chinese buying many more tonnes of it than before. And also, the second wave of financial disaster is going to hit in the next year or so when the zero-interest loans that were issued in 2005 start to reset. The prediction is that the current meltdown is ONLY the tip of the iceberg and it’s going to get a whole lot worse than it is now. I can’t wait!!
Maravilla:
I have read your postings for awhile now and believe I detect in you a naiveté about worldly matters that belies your gracious writing. I can only wonder in what mental context you could write: “I can’t wait!!” that the financial nest eggs of millions of people , not only in the U.S., but spanning the globe, are rapidly eroding; this matters so little to you? Because you’ve been prescient and escaped to la pura vida, you can gloat?Darn right, it’s going to get ugly. All those big bad businesses, in an era of easy credit, which expanded & created many jobs, improving the lives of many, only to find their credit financing money sources dried up and their business model no longer sustainable? Who do they employ? MY neighbors. MY family.
The numbers involved in this mess are inconceivably large & America doesn’t have the extra trillions dollars to give up. The USA is broke. The only way they have out is currency inflation and asset deflation. That hurts everyone who holds assets in US Dollars.
That being said: Gold has been on it’s way to $2K for the last 10 years; it may get there yet. There’s a lot of money out there yet to be made in the meantime if you’re going to eat. The refi time for all those mortgages you mentioned may quite possibly coincide with falling fixed rates, as the mortgage market is based on 30 yr. treasuries, currently paying out negative interest. You can count on the new administration to pave the way on that one.
Remember, it’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job, it’s a depression when you lose your own.
Thelonius says to his son Laertes in Hamlet:(I paraphrase) ”Neither a borrower or lender be, and to thine own self be true.” Keep your overhead low and your outlook broad.
PS: An update on America’s insolvency… Cumulative U.S. federal debt is now more than $10 trillion, up from $9.1 trillion a year ago. (That figure doesn’t include any unfunded liabilities such as Social Security or Medicare.) Total consumer installment debt: $2.5 trillion, up from $2.4 trillion a year ago.
Edited on Dec 15, 2008 16:28
Edited on Dec 15, 2008 16:35
Edited on Dec 16, 2008 04:55
SPRITE. These were recommendations offered by others, not my opinions, as I clearly stated in the opening sentence of my post. “I appreciate all wisdom offered and especially enjoyed these recommendations”
As I read your concerned remarks about the current state of the economy where you are currently surviving, I truly hope the best for you and your neighbors. Remember, according to Maravilla, “it’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job, it’s a depression when you lose your own.” If your still working and making money in the USA, you’re blessed.
Down here in the jungle, most of us have yet to feel the depressed financial vibrations resonating throughout the rest of the world. In fact, as the rest of the global economy falters, more people are purchasing property in CR. I’ve had more work in the last six months than all of last year. Gracias a dios!crhome
Some parts of the country are better off than others, however, the disparity is significant. The NE, Midwest, Florida and California (some “hot” pockets) are not doing as well. Th Pacific NW, Utah, Carolinas and Texas seem to be an exception to the rule, but reflective if their extremely diverse economies that are proportionately disributed amongst manufacturing, biotech, technology, specialty services, construction and academia. Never-the-less, the state of the economy is reflected everywhere you go, especially in the non-profit sector such as the YMCA. We are experiencing a nasty weather spell across the entire country. Even here in the relatively temperate NW (Stanwood, WA) it is 16 F at my house 3 km from Puget Sound, which is warmer than the air right now!Gloating? Not even close! I was being facetious and sarcastic. I don’t know any one who hasn’t been negatively affected by this financial meltdown, including ME! I’ve got a home that I can’t sell, in a spot that was once the hottest real estate market in the whole state, and if the next wave of defaulted mortgages hits as predicted, I may wind up losing almost all of my equity because the values of homes in this area has plummeted, not because I’m in debt or have an upside down mortgage. Gloating? I don’t think so. If I had my way all the goons who caused this mess would be in a camp somewhere, eating bread and water, not throwing lavish parties and flying around on a G5. But thanks for your Economics 101 lesson!
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