Way too pessimistic for me Coach and I'm actually quite optimistic about gold, oil and metals going forward. Although my faith in my fellow man has been greatly shaken especially watching friends dump ECU as most of us hold or buy, I remain steadfast that the world is not ending even as the US is being told by the market they must drop their standard of living by 30% or have it forced on them. There have always been crooks and will always be. The printing of money by all countries or those who have the cash like China, middle east, etc. spending it will likely produce the greatest growth and profit opportunites ever seen. I am sticking with my strategy of owning gold/silver, coal, oil/gas and copper companies with a preference to emerging producers and those with the greatest growth potential of their resource (blue sky high stuff like ECU) in both public and private companies. I also have a couple of strategic investments in China and a little high tech stuff. I wouldn't touch US banks as they will not be strong leaders out of this solvency/deleveraging market as they usually are.

Keep in mind that most hedge funds will know the extent of the redemption issues by Nov 15th and have been preparing for many weeks. I also expect a fair bit of tax loss selling has already occurred so those selling can buy back positions for mid-December or earlier given the 30 day rule.

A changed game will offer opportunites and I expect the growth in money supply and monetary base will drive serious growth and inflation in a shorter period than many expect. I also note that way too many people, as in most, are predicting doom and gloom so the contrarian indicators are very powerfull and quite often prevail, just like most of the market expect gold is done so it is likely far from it and this includes the likelihood the dollar will soon have an epiphany of large proportions.