By Don Williams
The US economy is undoubtedly in a confusing state of events right now. While there are plenty of analysts that will tell you one projection or another about the economy, I’m going to assume that you know that there’s a lot of corruption and confusion going on with the US dollar.
Whether it’s the banks and their illegal bailouts, the insane government debt, crazy inflation by the fed, or the manipulation of derivatives… we know something is up. So in this article we’re going to focus on 4 investments that aren’t US dollar based in order to hedge for the impending storm that must come at some point.
Investment #1: Foreign Currencies
Other countries with less corrupt governments and with large sovereign wealth funds have the obvious advantage over the debt-ridden US dollar. The Swiss franc and Norwegian crown both have major resources, strong wealth funds and no official allegiance to the tumultuous European Union.
The Singapore dollar is home to a country that is actually recognized as the least corrupt country in the world, along with its good banking practices, this is a safe bet.
Investment #2: Precious Metals
When the US dollar loses value, gold and silver gain value. Precious metals are a good way to go because short of Peter Diamandis’s Planetary Resources mining gold off asteroids, the amount of gold and silver won’t really change.
Nobody can print more gold into oblivion, either. I don’t think 3D printers are that good yet. So either buy gold, invest in planetary resources or go learn alchemy! The choice is yours, men.
Investment #3: Bitcoin
Lots of hype, or real investment opportunity? The fact that bitcoin is not part of any central banking system is huge. Without having a complete lesson about money, fractional reserve lending and central banks, we’ll dip our toes in here to show why bitcoin is an exciting possibility.
Pretty much every currency that countries back in the world today are controlled by central banks. The central banks try to control the supply of the currency in order to keep economies healthy. Um, *COUGH* take a look around!!! Have they been doing what they promised they would do? NO WAY!
The world is in a myriad of financial issues, with most governments in debt to the central banks. So call them benevolent if you wish to stay in fairytale-land, but I don’t think they are.
Consider the fact that back in the 1700’s the settlers of America issued and used their own currency, and told Britain to take a hike. In doing this, they were debt-free, and everybody was happy.
Some believe that the American Revolution had less to do about taxes and more to do about Britain demanding the new country use its currency, which the settlers would then have to pay interest for every pound created. We fought a war over it.
Even later on in history, presidential hopeful Andrew Jackson’s campaign slogan was Jackson and no bank. He was referring to the corrupt people that wanted to start a central bank in the US! Let me repeat that the 7th president of the United States of America ran his presidential campaign vehemently vowing to destroy the central bank.
And after his 8 years as president, when asked what was his greatest achievement, he proudly said, “I killed the bank.” This is incredible. His achievement was shelved in 1913 when the Federal Reserve was created, and then flash forward to today and the current state of the world’s financial woes…
So learn about bitcoin, don’t get scammed, and see if the non-central bank controlled currency is for you. It is for me.
Investment #4: Yourself
Myself? What do you mean invest in myself? Quite possibly the best investment of them all, the least risky and the most profitable would be to invest in you. What’s a better hedge to the entire market collapsing – some inherently worthless paper money, gold coins, electronic coins, or some tangible skills like gardening and creating a fire?
We’re not saying go live in a cave, nor are we saying prepare for disaster. But if you really want to invest your money as profitable as possible, consider also investing your time in yourself and what you know in your head.
Also, consider buying things that people have to have, when the method of exchanging value doesn’t matter. Buy heirloom seeds, generators, gasoline, water, dried food and supplies for becoming more self-sufficient.
This way, no matter what happens to your investments, your most important hedge will be inside your head and all around you, in the form of physical, life-sustaining things.