My first reaction to this kind of speculation is always that it's a sick fantasy. But I guess everyone daydreams about the end of the world sometimes.
The silly answer: Turn $100,000 into $100,000,000,000 using my magical financial preknowledge. This is what they do on Wall Street, right?
The serious answer: Well, first of all, stay put.
The Canadian Prairies seem pretty decent. There are no major fault lines, no precarious coastlines, no major flooding, it's at a high elevation, far inland, lots of fresh water, good for farming and there's a tiny population density. Culturally it's a good bet as well - every American seems to secretly dream of joining a roving militia and shooting bad guys, but Canadians don't usually feel that way, which automatically makes Canada much safer in a crisis.
A lot of people underestimate society because they hate it. If you hide out in your silly forest bunker, you can either a) wait until your first medical emergency or b) wait until other people find you and shoot you. Different people, same dream - hiding in the woods and shooting. Lots of shooting in these fantasies. That's why I would probably want to stay in town, because nothing kills faster than a bad case of rugged individualism. It looks like civilization can't be destroyed for good (or is this just the confirmation bias speaking?). People get it together eventually, and they'll get it together faster if you help out. Maybe you should spend your $100,000 on getting into some kind of leadership role so you'll be in a position to get an entire community through our hypothetical crisis.
Gold and silver don't enter into the equation because most people don't care about that stuff. Your average Canadian is 41.7 years old, so they were born in 1973 - five years after silver left Canadian currency for good. The majority of people have not really used precious metals in their lifetime and don't care about them, so if you really want to live out your bartering fantasies, start a farm. Human beings have survived collapse and extreme inflation before, in almost every other country. But inflation, like land war, doesn't really come to us privileged people in North North America, so we fear (and fantasize about) more than anything what we've never experienced. Maybe I could use my $100,000 as a down payment on a nice house - after all, the economy will collapse, so nobody will be able to collect after that. Then I'd have a nice house, which is probably better and more desirable than a pile of shinies.
I guess I would buy some canned food and stuff too, but really, I can't see myself living out a new life as an action movie protagonist. If the only people who survive this and go on to repopulate the world are going to be the objectivists in their mountain retreats, I guess I'm OK with dying.
Edited by nalaberong
06/30/2015 02:40 am
First Page
Posted 06/30/2015 09:24 am
