GW, for those that believe the whole thing is going to implode it's better to be invested in "physical gold" because if the US goes down, the entire global currency system goes down...since currency worldwide is now based on nothing other than the issuing country's GDP and not anything tangible...and every country is "double dipping GDP"..for instance, a car made in mexico but sold to the US is currently being credited as GDP for both countries....if the manufacturer is based in germany you have a triple dip...

personally, i'm in the "optimistic boat"...i believe it's probable that the US will re-introduce industry and that china is in for one hell of a recession...the fact is that china's labor costs are increasing 100% per year...it wont take long for things to be made cheaper here....hell, even the venezuelans are going on strike for maternity and pension benefits....the US has already seen that movie...

the whole thing boils down to this......the first butcher/baker/candlestick maker that says "i dont take greenbacks! what else have you got" is going to collapse the entire world economy as we know it.....all it will take is for people to decide that they cant eat/drink/fornicate/smoke cash (because there is no inherent value to it) and the system will change...

all stocks will eventially go to 0...thats a fact! it's what they do between the IPO and delisting that makes people money...the whole system is just a really really big pyramid scheme....i hope i'm not the last one out the door..