Job Discussion Forums

[Justin Trullinger]

To add to the silliness, invest in seeds. After the apocalypse, only the seeds of wholesome grains will have value.

On a more serious note- I doubt very much that the US dollar will die, disappear, or completely collapse.

But it does, frequently, change value.

If you're living hand to mouth on your local earnings, this doesn't matter. You earn it, you eat it, you pay rent with it, travel a bit, drink the rest.

But if you're fortunate enough to have some savings, and to be saving more, then it only makes sense to keep it in more than one currency.

If (for example) I have considerable savings in Korean won, but the won plummets when I'm about to travel- then it can cost me a lot of $$. (Where $$ represents "whatever." But there's a real loss possible in needing to convert savings at inopportune moments.)

You reduce the odds of that happening by keeping some savings in USD, some in Won, some in...whatever you can really. If you have savings in 2 or 3 different currencies, the odds of being hurt badly by fluctuations are greatly reduced.

And if a collapse does come, well, you'll still have something left...


Best,
Justin

[Teatime of Soul]

Just one word. Plastics.

[dragon777]

Why would China dump its $US holdings? It would have everything to lose by doing that.

[dragon777]

Somebody said that it is possible that the RMB (Chinese yuan) may become the new reserve currency. Why? Why not?

China is holding USA debt 60%-70%

Why shouldn't the Chinese Rmb become the new reserve currency?

I need feedback....

[geaaronson]

Re plastics-And did Benjamin heed that advice? NOOOOOOO! He put it all in Katherine Ross.

[johnslat]

Dear dragon777,

Not today, not tomorrow - but MAYBE a decade from now:

"China is in a cleft stick at present. It would dearly like to reduce its U.S. dollar denominated paper but if it engaged in a selling spree, the value of the dollar would plunge. Likewise it is forced to continue to buy U.S. Treasury bonds. If it pulled out of this market other countries would do the same. The result again would be the same: a weaker dollar.
The problem for China and the world is that there is no viable alternative to the U.S. dollar as an international reserve currency at present. About 26 per cent of international reserves are held in Euros but this is not expected to rise significantly. There is no EU Ministry of Finance to issue Eurobonds.
Investors at present have to choose among 16 different countries which issue Eurobonds. Their value is related to the strength of the individual country�s economy. The Russians are pushing the rouble but given Russia�s present economic woes, they are living in cloud cuckoo land.
The RMB is being used more and more in international trade. This applies especially to northern Thailand, northern Vietnam, Myanmar and the Russian Far East. RMB credits have been extended to neighbouring countries and currency swaps -amounting to $95 billion have been negotiated with Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Argentina and Belarus. Brazil and China are arranging for payment for imports in their respective currencies.
Greater use of the RMB will gradually lead to the full convertibility of the currency. This will take up to ten years. It will involve expanding capital markets in China and less intervention by the state. Only then will the RMB become an international reserve currency.
In any case, the future looks bright for the RMB."

http://www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com/2009/09/09/when-will-the-renminbi-become-an-international-reserve-currency/

Regards,
John

[geaaronson]

Should the dollar collapse, the financial situation in the entire world would torpodoe. It was bad enough when the bubble burst on the home mortgage front, a complete collapse a la 1929 and there will be a world Depression, A
and TEFL would be a superfluos activity, now longer necessitated by demand or money supply. Half of us would be selling pencils on the street.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

I always get a kick from these wishful thinkin' kinda threads...

Boys and girls...the US Dollar is and in our lifetimes...as a certainty...will be...sound as the Pound...

NCTBA

[Kornan DeKobb]

[johnslat]

Dear Kornan DeKobb,

Gloom and doom thinking might be more appropriate. On the other hand, some seem to actually enjoy predicting dire futures (Nostradamus comes to mind,) and Last Days, End of the World books, movies, and cults never lose their popularity. Maybe for that sort of people, the collapse of the global economy could be a kind of wishful thinking.

Regards,
John

[Insubordination]

When I was a kid, my dad used to go to (non-religious) seminars and was convinced the world was going to end. He bought hundreds of kilograms of grain, beans and milk powder and a vacuum machine. I remember helping him seal it all. He also built a self-sufficient house with solar panels and a water supply etc. Just before we were due to move in, he left us to marry his secretary.

[JohnnyTrippia]

[quote="Insubordination"]When I was a kid, my dad used to go to (non-religious) seminars and was convinced the world was going to end. He bought hundreds of kilograms of grain, beans and milk powder and a vacuum machine. I remember helping him seal it all. He also built a self-sufficient house with solar panels and a water supply etc. Just before we were due to move in, he left us to marry his secretary. :roll:[/quote]

I don't know what's happening, and the thing is, I'm not even sure the people at the top know - they know within their own cliques more or less. The US / EU / Commonwealth, and some other UN countries are a clique, China is a clique (a big one), Brazil and Russia are others. They can't ever seem to quite agree on anything. I think COP15 was a good example of this.
Gold is honestly just another bubble. Russia can flood the world with cheap gold any time it wants to. Oil isn't reliable. Money certainly isn't but is still essential right now for day to day. Property is a bubble but it can't truly burst as everyone needs property. Likewise with food. i.e. land, as the great Lex Luther tells us in Superman - land is the only thing humans will always be fighting over. The safest bet to invest in is just plain land, preferably arable farming land, or a good yacht - preferably something stable like the trimaran from Waterworld.

[artemisia]

I wonder how many people have built �panic� shelters in their homes stocked with food? We�re always being warned to stock up in the event of a natural disaster or flu pandemic. I admit I�ve been a bit slack about this.
Kornan Dekobb wrote:

[Kornan DeKobb]