{"id":3769,"date":"2010-05-17T00:00:13","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T07:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/?p=3769"},"modified":"2013-11-27T10:42:51","modified_gmt":"2013-11-27T17:42:51","slug":"six-investing-rules-for-a-worst-case-scenario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/six-investing-rules-for-a-worst-case-scenario\/","title":{"rendered":"Six investing rules for a worst-case scenario"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) &#8212; So Congress enacts financial  reforms. Big deal. Wall Street must be drunk on Dom Perignon,  celebrating the huge paid-offs from their successful $400 million  investment in &#8220;kill reform&#8221; lobbyists. And that GOP concession? Phony.  Wall Street will reward them for the loopholes denuding Dodd&#8217;s financial  reforms.<\/p>\n<p>And even with all his rants about fat-cats, Obama wins. Expect Wall  Street to spend another $400 million to keep Obama in office for a  second term.<\/p>\n<div><object id=\"MicroPlayer_48453\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"287\" height=\"162\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"objName=dummy&amp;videoGUID=0DA9808B-EE75-445D-A72F-B53F97AFB2D6&amp;playerid=2001&amp;configURL=http%3A\/\/wsj.vo.llnwd.net\/o28\/players\/&amp;autoStart=false&amp;allowPlayerPopup=1&amp;movieWidth=287&amp;movieHeight=162&amp;host=www.marketwatch.com\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\" \/><param name=\"seamlesstabbing\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"swliveconnect\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/s.wsj.net\/media\/swf\/microPlayer.swf\" \/><embed id=\"MicroPlayer_48453\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"287\" height=\"162\" src=\"http:\/\/s.wsj.net\/media\/swf\/microPlayer.swf\" swliveconnect=\"true\" seamlesstabbing=\"false\" wmode=\"transparent\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"objName=dummy&amp;videoGUID=0DA9808B-EE75-445D-A72F-B53F97AFB2D6&amp;playerid=2001&amp;configURL=http%3A\/\/wsj.vo.llnwd.net\/o28\/players\/&amp;autoStart=false&amp;allowPlayerPopup=1&amp;movieWidth=287&amp;movieHeight=162&amp;host=www.marketwatch.com\"><\/embed><\/object><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Zuckerman: Investing  in an age of bubbles<\/h3>\n<p>Author of the  Greatest Trade Ever, Gregory Zuckerman, explains to  Simon Constable why he thinks the world of  investing has changed and  how small investors should be willing to try new  tactics to make money.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Change? Yes we can?&#8221; That&#8217;s funny today. Obama is now Wall  Street&#8217;s best asset, their new Trojan Horse replacing Hank Paulson, a  troika with Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner. Wall Street always gets what it  wants.<\/p>\n<p>And you can bet they&#8217;ll cough up yet another $400 million keeping  lawyers and lobbyists busy fighting SEC regulations, to make sure its  back to business-as-usual with free-market Reaganomics capitalism.  Spending $400 million is chump change compared to the hundreds of  billions Wall Street gets cheap from the Treasury and Fed, by playing us  taxpayers for suckers after screwing up the economy and triggering the  2008 meltdown.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, we&#8217;re suckers, and Wall Street will take advantage of us the next  time they melt down, coming soon.<\/p>\n<p>What can you do? Shift focus from them to you. You need a whole new  strategy. Are you ready? OK. First, let&#8217;s assume you really are tired of  the pain of fighting Wall Street. You are? Good. Then you&#8217;ve had an  epiphany &#8230; an awakening &#8230; you&#8217;ve had one of those rare ah-ha!  moments &#8230; what Zen masters call enlightenment &#8230; you finally see the  light &#8230; the futility of denying reality &#8230; and as you see into this  new reality, you surrender the fight, you accept these six secret  wisdoms underlying your new investment strategy:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Accept that Wall Street money calls the shots in Washington.  Period!<\/h3>\n<p>Seriously, you stop fighting Wall Street. They won. Admit it. You join  with Wall Street in spirit. You flow with this new reality, without  being tortured by inner anger because it&#8217;s eating you up, worse than  marching with the Tea Party. Acceptance  works for the president, he&#8217;s  obviously &#8220;at one&#8221; with Wall Street. Peace of mind is more important.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, if you think about it, there&#8217;s nothing you can do about it.  Voting out the bums? That&#8217;ll just increase gridlock. Wall Street loves  gridlock, makes Washington even easier to manipulate. But if you&#8217;re one  of the new enlightened investors you accept this new reality even if  you&#8217;re certain Wall Street&#8217;s insatiable greed will eventually destroy  America&#8217;s cherished democracy and capitalism (which it will).<\/p>\n<h3>2. Accept that population is a ticking time-bomb set for 2050<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, if Wall Street&#8217;s takeover of Washington won&#8217;t kill us, the global  population bomb will. So you must also accept the larger, global  reality: That absent a global disaster of epic proportions, the world  population will increase 50% from 6.3 billion to roughly 9.1 billion by  2050, largely in developing nations, as the U.N. predicts. And you  realize adding 2.8 billion new humans, all demanding an upgrade to the  American Standard of Living will place unsustainable demands on the  world&#8217;s natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>The coming population boom was highlighted recently in Mother Jones  magazine, exposing huge golden investment opportunities for the future.  Julia Whitty&#8217;s article, &#8220;The Last Taboo,&#8221; exposes the global cover-up  uniting &#8220;the Vatican, lefties, conservatives, environmentalists and  scientists in a conspiracy of silence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Cover-up? Yes. Denial that this population explosion is destined to  deplete the planet&#8217;s limited resources and destroy civilization. Get it?  This conspiracy will make certain absolutely nothing is done to rein in  future demand for commodities, putting ever increasing demands on  limited natural resources, driving up prices and creating fabulous  opportunities for enlightened investors.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Accept that commodities growth rate lags population demand<\/h3>\n<p>In a second incredible Mother Jones piece, Clive Thompson challenges us  with the other self-sabotaging economic taboo in the our blind disregard  of the limits of growth: &#8220;Nothing Grows Forever. Why Do We Keep  Pretending the Economy Will?&#8221; Why? Because the human brain cannot face  the truth.<\/p>\n<p>And the truth is that world governments and the planet&#8217;s 6.3 billion  people are on a collision course with the limits of our planet&#8217;s  resources. Our civilization is on a path of self-destruction, we are in  denial and suicidal, not a psychotic playing Russian roulette, more like  a divinely inspired kamikaze pilot.<\/p>\n<p>So with open eyes, you accept this new reality that most commodities and  natural resources are not renewable, and have a low (or no) growth rate  that is insufficient to keep up with the long-term population growth  rate of the planet. In short, you accept that absent a miracle, this  simple equation clearly means that human civilization is destined to  self-destruct. And as crass, materialistic and amoral as that may seem,  you realize that this reality presents investment opportunities for  enlightened investors.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Accept the same ethics as the Goldman\/Paulson Conspiracy<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, for the near future, you decide to live by the same code of ethics  that Wall Street leaders will live by, the same amoral code used by the  greedy souls who packaged and sold toxic debt and bogus derivatives to  clueless retirement funds, without disclosing their conspiracy&#8217;s  deceits, like secretly shorting the same securities they were selling.  You go long on obvious opportunities. You also short your bets wherever  possible.<\/p>\n<p>After all, that&#8217;s the new American way, the new code of ethics used by  Wall Street and sanctioned by Obama&#8217;s Washington. That&#8217;s the ethics  Goldman and co-conspirators like John Paulson now play by. That&#8217;s also  the same code of ethics spread across Washington earlier when Hank  Paulson, Goldman&#8217;s former CEO, was Treasury secretary.<\/p>\n<p>Since Bush brought Goldman and Wall Street into Washington, all of  America has lost its moral compass. Accept it, or be consumed by anger.  Think positive, see the opportunities, just as does Goldman, Paulson,  even Obama and those lobbyists with their $400 million.<\/p>\n<h3>5. In acceptance you discover Peace of Mind<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, to remain sane, you must accept life on life&#8217;s terms, without  fighting the new reality. Scott Peck opens his classic &#8220;The Road Less  Traveled&#8221; with an the eternal massage of The Buddha: &#8220;Life is difficult.  This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths&#8221; but &#8220;once we see the  truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult &#8212;  once we truly understand and accept it &#8212; then life is no longer  difficult.&#8221; In acceptance you can, as my mentor Joseph Campbell put it,  &#8220;go to your death singing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The rare enlightened investor understands and accepts that Mother Jones  two last taboos will continue blinding the vast majority of the humans  on Earth until it&#8217;s too late to prevent the inevitable, underscoring  &#8220;one of the disturbing facts of history &#8230; that so many civilizations  collapse,&#8221; as Jared Diamond warns us in &#8220;Collapse.&#8221; Throughout history,  many &#8220;civilizations share a sharp curve of decline,&#8221; where their &#8220;demise  may begin only a decade or two after it reaches its peak population,  wealth and power.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We wrote about Diamond&#8217;s 12-part equation last year in &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/wwiii-population-wars-a-12-bomb-equation-2009-09-29\">The  Coming Population Wars: A 12-Bomb Equation<\/a>.&#8221; Now, with the open  mind of an enlightened investors please go back and look closely at  Diamond&#8217;s 12-part equation as 12 sectors for investing opportunities in  stocks, bonds and derivatives. Think like the guys in the  Goldman-Paulson conspiracy, because that is the only way to invest in  the future.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, Wall Street has indexes for every one of those 12 sectors.  Ride their growth in prices up, and short their declines, with no moral  qualms. Do whatever&#8217;s necessary to take full advantage of all the  opportunities on the planet just like the soulless Goldman-Paulson  conspiracy &#8230; that&#8217;s the new winning strategy for enlightened  investors.<\/p>\n<h3>6. Accept life and live to the max, knowing the end can come any time<\/h3>\n<p>Prepare for the coming Big One, which can happen at any time: Tomorrow,  2012, 2050, or maybe &#8220;Avatar&#8217;s&#8221; mythic 2154, a mere four generation in  the future.<\/p>\n<p>So here are three suggestions to help you plan ahead: First, adopt the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/investing-rules-for-the-end-of-civilization-2009-07-28\" class=\"broken_link\">Swiss  Family Robinson<\/a>&#8221; strategy of hedge fund manager Barton Biggs,  Morgan Stanley&#8217;s former chief strategist. Buy a remote self-sufficient  farm, a &#8220;safe haven &#8230; capable of growing some kind of food &#8230;  well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine,  clothes, etc.&#8221; and guns ready to fire &#8220;a few rounds over the approaching  brigands&#8217; heads.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Next, listen to Richard Clarke, author of the new &#8220;Cyber War,&#8221; the guy  whose al-Qaida warnings Bush ignored before 9\/11. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/2010\/04\/08\/cyberwar-obama-korea-technology-security-clarke.html\" class=\"broken_link\">Forbes<\/a> says Clarke located the headquarters of his $125 million antiterrorist  consulting firm in &#8220;Culpepper, Va., just beyond the nuclear blast radius  of Washington &#8230; equipped with backup generators and a cellar full of  Pinot Noir.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Finally, invest in a stockpile of supplies for near-term wars and also  the collapse of civilization. Go to LifeAftertheOilCrash.net.  Echoing the message of Biggs and Clarke, LATOC reminds us that  &#8220;civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. This is &#8230; the  scientific conclusion of the best paid, most widely respected  geologists, physicists, bankers and investors in the world.&#8221; Check out  LATOC&#8217;s Preparedness Store where you&#8217;ll find: NitroPak freeze-dried  food, Micro-Solar generators, Polar Fleece military clothing, Alpine  tents, hand-crank radios, NIMB rechargeable batteries, water filtration  units, even good old reliable Coleman stoves. Everything you need that  your investor friends next door probably won&#8217;t have because they think  you&#8217;re too paranoid.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line, you enlightened investors now have a two-pronged strategy: A  stockpile of provisions for the Big One that could detonate tomorrow  with a nuclear attack in a major American city, as worries Clarke. But  may not occur for decades, perhaps around 2050 as the United Nations  hints. Either way, you&#8217;re protected. In addition, your new investment  strategy keeps you active the market, taking advantage of  &#8220;Goldman-Paulson Conspiracy&#8221; opportunities while living happily in the  everyday business world &#8230; at least until that moment of destiny when,  as Diamond would say: &#8220;Civilization and the planet experiences a sharp  and rapid curve of decline that cannot be stopped.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>[Via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/story\/print?guid=4494F892-850B-4330-BB1D-3747961873F7\" class=\"broken_link\">Marketwatch.com<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) &#8212; So Congress enacts financial reforms. Big deal. Wall Street must be drunk on Dom Perignon, celebrating the huge paid-offs from their successful $400 million investment in &#8220;kill reform&#8221; lobbyists. And that GOP concession? Phony. Wall Street will reward them for the loopholes denuding Dodd&#8217;s financial reforms. And even with all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}