'Buy farmland and gold,' advises Dr Doom

[steven johnson]

I hope that this guy who predicted the 1987 crash is wrong.

The world’s most powerful investors have been advised to buy farmland, stock up on gold and prepare for a “dirty war” by Marc Faber, the notoriously bearish market pundit, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash.

The bleak warning of social and financial meltdown, delivered today in Tokyo at a gathering of 700 pension and sovereign wealth fund managers.

Dr Faber, who advised his audience to pull out of American stocks one week before the 1987 crash and was among a handful who predicted the more recent financial crisis, vies with the Nouriel Roubini, the economist, as a rival claimant for the nickname Dr Doom.

Speaking today, Dr Faber said that investors, who control billions of dollars of assets, should start considering the effects of more disruptive events than mere market volatility.

'Buy farmland and gold,' advises Dr Doom

Try this link:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7035913.ece

[Doremus]

1. Bad link. nt

[northzax]

2. Yawn

The man was right, once. 22 years ago. And honestly, if it's all that bad, gold won't help you, you'll need ammunition.

[steven johnson]

4. I agree with you.

[JoeyT]

6. Hell if it's that bad owning land isn't going to help you either.

"There goes another angry mob. Thank goodness they respect property lines and no trespassing signs."

[DCKit]

13. Yeah, but you can't eat gold.

And what's an ounce of gold going to be worth when the food runs out? A handful of rice?

[cutlassmama]

16. the land is to grow vegetables and fruit on. Also, raise protein (cows,

chicken, pigs, etc.)

[bemildred]

9. Yeah. Lot's of people saw the "more recent crash" coming too.

All bubbles pop. Ponzi schemes fail, and any business model based on a growing influx of new suckers is a Ponzi scheme. The real world does not support exponential growth indefinitely anywhere anytime. Stability and equilibrium are where it is at if you want long term prospects, or perhaps growth asymptotic to zero like the big bang.

But guns and ammo and plenty of booze and drugs seems like a more useful investment for your remaining weeks and months.

[Statistical]

12. Exactly. If you think it is complete collapse gold is worthless.

Even if gold did have value it will be taken by people smart enough to stock up on guns. In a complete collapse it is back to "might makes right".

So if you really really really think the entire system collapses. Take out new mortgage on your home, max every single credit cards for cash advances, sell all stocks, cash out all retirement funds, and pension plans, etc.

Take all that money buy some property out in middle of nowhere. Get a group of people you can trust (20-30). Make sure you got a solid well (water), some PV arrays (power), plenty of forrested land (for lumber, firewood, and clearing to grow crows). Sink the rest of your money into a year's supply of canned food, plenty of guns & training to use them, lots of ammo. Would be smart to also have a large tank of diesel and ability to make biodiesel in the future.

In a complete collapse the ability to be self sufficient and have enough manpower/firepower to ensure someone else doesn't take it is smart. Having a bunch of gold in your safe while you die of thirst or your family gets attacked by gangs is plain stupid.

[Mojorabbit]

3. I searched the title and here is the link

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7035913.ece

[cutlassmama]

5. Even a stopped clock...

[old mark]

7. If you can afford to buy farmland and gold, you probably won't even notice

the terrible things that this guy predicts, whatever they are.

I live in a city, and my "land" is my back yard, and my gold is my wedding ring.

On the other hand, no one will mistake me for a rich man hiding gold on his farm when all those people take to the streets, so it probably all works out.


mark

[FSogol]

8. LOL. Hey Freepers make sure you buy Gold when the price is at an all-time high!

:rofl: The Freeps will buy gold and start Cheetos farms!

[AlecBGreen]

10. yeah, great

lets turn more farmland into an investment for the already-rich :puke: Its crap like this that makes getting into farming so difficult. Good land around here is $5,000+ per acre, not because it can produce that much food but because its "an investment." Did I already :puke: ? p.s. not mad @ you OP'er, just the sentiment of the author.

[robdogbucky]

11. In a larger sense the article cites Dr. Doom's

vision for how this "dirty war," he foresees is played out vis-a-vis China/USA dispute over remaining oil reserves, which is the well from which the gold/farmland admonition springs:

"...When I tell people to prepare themselves for a dirty war, they ask me: “America against whom?” I tell them that for sure they will find someone.”

At the heart of Dr Faber’s argument is a fundamentally gloomy view on the US economy and its capacity to service a growing mountain of debt.

His belief, fund managers were told, is that the US is going to go bankrupt.

Under President Obama, he said, the country’s annual fiscal deficit will not drop below $1 trillion and could rise beyond that figure. .."

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7035913.ece


RE: "I tell them that for sure they will find someone.” regarding who America will have this dirty war against. There is a certain prescient insight with that statement per our recent experience with trumped up reasons to occupy countries in the oil patch of the Middle East.

Aside from the swipe at Obama and the neglect for not stating how we got here or that Obama has inherited his mess albeit his seeming enabling of that same behavior, I see elsewhere on DU today a thread entitled something like "if Bush had not given all those tax breaks, we would not be in debt today," or something similar.

One has to look at the big picture, the progression of the events that have brought us to the point of being hopelessly in debt and hopelessly mired in unwinnable, wasting conflicts on the other side of the globe. He could have mentioned that as well as mentioning 30 years of tax breaks for the wealthy, etc.

Not that I have gold to hoard or land to secure and protect away from any large cities upon which I could sustain crops necessary to survival. I guess I will be stuck with the minions in my mostly bedroom community of suburban houses with fenced yards and neighbors all in essentially the same boat. I trust most of my neighbors, regardless of political bent, to not turn violent in the face of government breakdown, etc. Ours is a graying neighborhood with lots of empty nesters and a modest influx of young families due to the good schools nearby. This immediate neighborhood is further insulated by a few square miles of similarly peaceful prosperous middle class suburban areas on one side and a more or less open area with a local mountain occupying several square miles and the attendant open space in the state park surrounding it, on the other side. I could more easily see neighbors banding together in common interest and blocking road access to our neighborhoods in case of economic collapse and social chaos than it becoming a lord of the flies or road warrior scene.


Just my dos centavos


robdogbucky

[roamer65]

14. Farmland, gold and SILVER.

Silver has more industrial uses than gold and always been used for fractional currency in tandem with gold.

[northernlights]

15. did we read the same article?

Because what I read was the suggestion for his billionaire pals to buy a house outside major cities because cities will be more vulnerable to "dirty war" attacks. In other words, "terrorist-style" attacks, not attacks by hordes of us starving peons.

His suggestion to buy gold is that it is easily transportable wealth, not because he expects people to be using it instead of paper. And he recommends investing their billions in agricultural STOCKS.

He's talking about war, especially over declining oil supplies with demand trending up.

[toolabard]

17. land and the lode of gold BS

Buying five acres of land can sustain a family of four. Gold is nice, but silver has more qualities then worth. Not only is it a form of exchange, but you can solder with it. It is also a mild antibacterial agent.
The problem with value is simply the meeting of the minds on a transaction. The seller needs the things gold or silver can buy. If he can trade for what he needs, money is unnecessary. Back when the West first opened, the most valuable thing was a large keg of nails.
Often, people moving west would burn their house to recover the nails they'd need for the new home out west. In the future, the most valued items will be antibiotics, ammunition,seeds for crops, and useful steel or iron tools.
I can safely say that this whole dog&pony show rides on oil. If you don't have oil, commerce ceases. People don't realize that for any business to function, they need some way to move what they have sold to its final destination. That means diesel for trucks or railroads.
Friends of mine are overland independent truckers. Seventy percent of all trucking in this country is the small independent truckers that drive for a living. The price of diesel is inching towards a doomsday figure. When diesel hits $4.75 a gallon, they will park their rigs. This has already happened, but little notice is taken. When that happens, you go hungry. What national reserves we have left will go to the military, and other high need services. Under these circumstances, paper is useless.

[sendero]

18. I totally agree...

.. with a lot of what you say, but "park their rigs"? No, that won't happen, not for any period of time anyway.

If the price of diesel goes up, all forms of petroleum-based fuels rise as well. Most transportation is accomplished with diesel (trucks, trains), and if the price goes up for EVERYBODY then EVERYBODY will have to get paid more to move freight. Companies that need to have products transported aren't going to just say "well it costs too much so forget it".

I'm not one of those morons who believe the "free markets" fix everything, but they will fix this.

[toolabard]

20. park it there

In my part of America, the rigs are getting parked for 2 reasons. First, because there is a depression going on. Secondly, the state govts seem to be targeting the small owner operator using excessive fines for phony safety violations. And as I said earlier, the price of fuel.
I should have mentioned that this isn't just a trucking problem, it is a fuel problem. The cost of overseas goods is steadily climbing. Those giant freighters run on oil or diesel. China doesn't want to lose its best customer. But unless they build a pipeline to Iran, Wally World will dry up. I believe the day will come when the barrel is empty. And at 62, I will live to see it.

[Turbineguy]

19. This was going to happen

in the late 1970's too. Howard Ruff made millions scaring the shit out of people.

But he could be right if we go back toward more, instead of less, Reaganomics.

[dmallind]

21. When consistent doomers like this get bull market predictions right too

then I will listen to them.

It doesn't take the brains of an ant to get a prediction of a bear market right every time there is one if all you do is predict bear markets at every point in time.

[jwirr]

22. I have a stupid question. Since you are talking about gold I assume

someone on this thread can answer it. Is the gold on many dishes and plates of any value?

[TalkingDog]

23. If you've got 10 billion plates. But seriously....

No, it's what's called a "luster" which is a fancy name for a low-fire glaze that looks like gold but isn't. They also make lusters that look like silver platinum and nacre (sea shell opalescent). The silver might, and I stress, might have some silver in the mix, but not enough to count for anything. As I suggested in the subject line, you'd need to scrape about 10 billion plates to come up with anything of substantial value.

And by then you'd be suffering from some wretched lung disease, because to do the work safely, you'd need a hood and a high volume air exchange. Which cost a lot of money. And that puts you in the hole to start.....

If you go to any thrift store, you'll see that some of that luster wears off over time. It's microns thick.

And silver tea sets are usually plated too.

But the real pewter ones are pewter and worth something.

[Art_from_Ark]

24. Pewter is not particularly valuable

since it's 90% tin-- in other words, it's a cheap base metal alloy that was used in the past for silverware by people who couldn't afford real silver.

[TalkingDog]

25. Ummm.. I should have been a little less concise

The poster was asking (obliquely) if the gold "metal" on plates was worth anything as metal.

Well, it's not metal, it's a luster. As I explained.

Pewter, however base it's mixture of metals, is actual metal and hence worth much more than the not-real metal lusters on plates. Especially if you are discussing them as antiques.

There. Clear it up for you?