plain and simple stupid

Yes I would. I've been in that situation before. Not with $17,000 but several hundred.

Have you seen Bakersfield?

In Mexico.

Don't trust banks but don't keep your life savings in cash either.
Banks periodically do collapse (and they're scheduled for one almighty pile-up pretty soon) and when this happens on a large scale, savers lose their money.
Also, in period of hyperinflation banks restrict access to cash withdrawals and so savers are forced to watch as their money becomes less and less and less valuable. (if the doller continues to fall O.P.E.C. may switch to Euro trading and if this happens, so will china and then the doller will go into absolute freefall leading to massive hyperinflation similar to what happened in Argentina a few years ago)

Oh no! The sky is falling again? I better stock up on gold bullion and get the fallout shelter ready...

Incidentally, people seem to be talking like they have never heard of such a thing, but saving in cash is pretty common among mexican immigrant workers.

I'd give it back. I'd also expect a decent reward.

Your laughter might be a form of embarassment once the sky does fall in..
Except then you'll deny that you were ever sceptical that it could happen

because you know, economies never crash. especially ones run completely irresponsibly.

Seiously, are you guys peddling a gold investment letter?

The trouble with your responses is that they rest on fallacious logic. While it is true that the economy might crash today, tomorrow, next week, or next year, acknowledgement of that possibility lends no credence to any specific predictions about the future. If there is one fact about economics and investing it is that when it comes to predicting the future, no one has reliably shown the ability to do so.

Look around, and you'll find doomsaying of the sort in Akrasia's post in print somewhere virtually every day throughout at least US history. Usually, the analysis involved is more sophisticated, and usually the self-proclaimed seer has something like gold or bomb shelters to sell.

In the end, listening to this kind of crap would have gotten you into the some of the most volatile, worst performing investments in recent history. Sure, the economy might crash... hell you could also get cancer or some rare disease. Nonetheless, far flung predictions based on cartoon analyses are not a good basis for deciding where to put money.

The difference is, I'm not selling anything, the people who are telling you that everything is ok are the ones who have something to sell.

And i'm not saying that the economy 'might collapse' because there is an inherent possibility that anything with a probability of greater than zero is possible, I am saying that the probability of an economic collapse is approaching 1 due to systematic mismanagement by the U.S. government and those who have influence over the financial markets.
It is not a wild and controvertial statement to suggest that debts need to be payed back and that racking up the biggest deficits in the history of your country to finance short term expenditure (war and tax cuts for the rich) is a really really really bad idea. Not to mention the fact that America has a huge trade deficit which should lead to a very weak doller except that oil prices are increasing and oil is mostly traded in dollers. Now that OPEC are openly engaging in the possibility of changing to the Euro standard means that America s one step away from a catestrophic devaluation of your currency which Will lead to hyper-inflation and an economic melt down. (that particular scenario is the closest thing economics as a 'science' has to a law of cause and effect)

My reasoning is far more solid than yours is, which as far as i can see is "the economy hasn't crashed yet so it probably won't ever. Or perhaps it's closer to "I have been getting junk e-mail claiming that I can improve my sex life by taking a pill, that email is junk, therefore it must be impossible that such a pill could exist"

Edited for typing

[Edited on Nov 24, 2004 by Akrasia]

This exact same argument was plied by doomsayers throughout the 80's and 90's. For all we know such apparently crazy policies can be comfortable pursued for many more decades.

That would be something new, which means that the net effects are highly unpredictable, not something with a certainty akin to the law of gravity, as you suggest.

It wouldn't be new, it would be a unique event in time just as every single other event in time is, but is not to be classed as 'a priori'

If OPEC change to Euro, then the demand for the Doller as a speculative commodity would plummet which would spark a chain of inflation that we have seen many examples of before. The doller is artificially high because of OPEC and global trade in similar commodities such as Coffee. If OPEC pulls out of the Doller, the Doller's value WILL plummet and this may cause a chain reaction.
This is far more likely than any other possible outcome should this one trigger occur. But even without this, the trade deficit and the government budget deficit are both serious causes for concern and are currently at record levels!

I would probably be more convincing if i spelt words like "dollar" correctly

I am certainly concerned about all these trends, but this kind of speculation is just another factor among many in deciding what to do with money. This kind of macro economic unpredictability is one of the reasons I favor owning real estate. Nonetheless, I won't be taking money out of FDIC insured savings and burying it in coffee cans any time soon. If someone is that sure that the sky will fall soon, I would suggest buying land and stockpiling gasoline and weapons.

fucking bummer,
if she would have spent 700 on a safe,
she wouldn't have had that problem.

that's tough,
I feel for her,
but shit!

I loose money about twice a year being stupid, put two and two together:

never carry more then twent bucks.

come on, find a hole in a tree or something

Right on the money...as it were.

Nobody carries a million bucks in a leather Samsonite. It's always the Zero Halliburton (yes, *that* Halliburton) aluminum attache case.

geez, didn't you ever see Miami Vice?