I guess it is becoming clear that the governments around the world will support the equity markets with liquidity and eventually actually buying shares. On the consumer side the government will, as it already has, give money directly to businesses and people. So basically that is the game now. It is not a market game its a government game, winning means winning at this new game. I’m not sure what this means for individuals. Long term i suppose it means disaster for the economy, but then again, long term, for the past forty years, the economy supposedly run ion a market system, has been somewhere between neutral and a disaster for most Americans, so who is to say which is better. Anyway, speculating aboutv the relative merits of one system over the other, while entertaining and perhaps useful if you were in a position to change things, is more or less pointless for an individual. The question now is how to you position yourself to benefit from the new system, or at least not be destroyed by it.

Second thought that has been rumbling around in my head. If we’re going to some sort of government controlled economy, money printing and eventually, sooner or later, some sort of disaster that usually follows money printing, I wonder what the best proxy for money will be? The obvious ones like silver and gold have some difficulties which can be overcome and some other difficulties, like the government potentially making them illegal, which will no doubt be overcome by some but at a risk. What will work as money, tobacco, pot, trees and firewood make a good stand-in for oil around here and oil is about as close to money as you can get.