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Facts
have a different feel when they’re personal. And speaking
personally, evidence that Americans are seriously spooked is
starting to pile up. In the past few months:
• While researching a magazine article on offshore investing I
interviewed Erica Nolan, executive director of the Sovereign
Society, a Florida-based consultancy. She noted
that her client base is changing: “Historically, offshore solutions
have been reserved for very high net worth individuals. But starting in about
2001 we started to see people in the ‘mid-tier millionaire’
stream -- $1 million to $30 million net worth -- saying ‘I’ve
worked really hard, I don’t want to have my assets at risk.’ Most
recently we’ve been seeing a big demand from Americans saying ‘I
just want to put $100,000 or $500,000 offshore. I’m reporting it; it
has nothing to do with taxes.’ It’s just asset safety at this
point.”
• My father-in-law decided he wanted some gold, so I called a
local coin store and asked Kevin, the shop’s owner, to find us some
Krugerrands. He predicted a few weeks for delivery, which seemed reasonable
given the chatter about tight supplies, so I placed an order and wrote a
big check. That was three months ago, and the coins still aren’t
in. I called Kevin the other day and found him both busy and frustrated.
“I could make a million dollars this year if I could only get
inventory,” he said. “This would be a career year.” He
apologized for the long wait and said there were now only a few people ahead
of us on the list.
• I checked in with a friend, a business owner and
semi-professional poker player just back from a Seattle gambling trip. But
instead of talking poker or kids we toured his stash of freeze-dried food and
his growing arsenal that includes a Dirty Harry-style 44 magnum pistol and a
very cool black pump-action shotgun. This guy is well-educated,
well-traveled, and well-off, and he’s preparing to blow away looters
from his bedroom window.
• My 11-year-old son Alex and I stopped by a local gun store. This
is going to be a “skills acquisition” summer in which we learn to
ride horses, handle guns, and change a bike flat (and when I finally learn to
Salsa) so we had some general questions for Charles, the gun shop owner,
about gun safety classes and which rifle is the best starter model. Charles said
our selection was limited: It seems that there’s a run on ammo, and he
can’t guarantee anything more than low-velocity 22 caliber bullets.
When we got home I did a quick Google search for “bullet
shortage” and sure enough, that market looks just like those for gold
and silver coins, with demand swamping supply, long waiting lists, and
panicky hoarding.
It’s no secret, of course, that small-denomination bullion is hard
to come by and gun sales are way up, but finding out first-hand that this
stuff is unavailable brings home the reality of the situation, which is that
the social mood is growing darker. On the surface everything looks normal; no
one is protesting in the streets, the trash is getting picked up, and
elections are as orderly as ever. But the market is quietly reallocating
resources as individuals insure against a systemic breakdown. Hope those
Krugerrands come soon.
John
Rubino
DollarCollapse.com
John
Rubino is co-author, with GoldMoneys James Turk, of The Coming Collapse of
the Dollar and How to Profit From It (Doubleday, December 2004), and author
of How to Profit from the Coming Real Estate Bust (Rodale, 2003) and Main
Street, Not Wall Street (Morrow, 1998). After earning a Finance MBA from New
York University, he spent the 1980s on Wall Street, as a Eurodollar trader,
equity analyst and junk bond analyst. During the 1990s he was a featured
columnist with TheStreet.com and a frequent contributor to Individual
Investor, Online Investor, and Consumers Digest, among many other publications.
He now writes for Fidelity Magazine, CFA, and Proto.
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