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In "Business is
Booming," I noted that one area of the economy, the firearms
industry, is growing like gangbusters. As it happens, another sector that
does well when times are bad and people are worried is also seeing brisk
demand for its products.
"More
Americans Stashing Cash in Home Safes" (MarketWatch)
In an era
marked by financial turbulence, it’s probably not surprising that safes
have become a popular commodity, with some manufacturers, retailers and
installers reporting sales increases of as much as 40% from a few years ago.
...
One thing that
isn’t driving the safe boom, apparently, is crime. Indeed, U.S.
burglary rates have been plunging for years. Still, experts say that many
savers and investors feel a lingering sense of insecurity in their
finances—a hard-to-shake fear borne out of the jolting recession and,
at times, wobbly recovery—which is helping to spur the new safeguarding
mentality.
Tyler D. Nunnally, founder and CEO of Upside Risk, an Atlanta firm
that researches investor psychology, says sticking tangible assets in a safe
can be a natural reaction to volatility in the markets. “People dislike
loss twice as much as they like gains,” he says. “They want to
protect what they have.”
Growing numbers
of these fearful types simply don’t trust their banks to protect them:
In a Gallup poll last year, a record-high 36% of Americans said they had
“very little” or “no” confidence in U.S. banks. (In
2008 and 2009, when the financial crisis was peaking, that figure stood at
22% and 29%, respectively.)
But, but...I
thought Treasury
Secretary Tim Geithner said the U.S.
financial system is "significantly stronger than it was before the
crisis"? Shouldn't these people be listening to clowns
"experts" like Former
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and buy
"cheap" stocks instead?
Michael J. Panzner
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