I think it is a relatively safe and prosperous place to live. The politicians are puppets and the contemptible wowser public servants make life hell for anyone who values the freedom to choose. The thing that Australia has though, is the ability to move to smaller population areas that have good, relatively free health services, low crime rates and remote political control (still there but not as intrusive as USA or as potentially fatal as some other countries). My own thoughts on USA is that it was a great, great country but its days are now numbered and so I would take all necessary steps to protect me and mine. If that involves emigrating to somewhere like Australia and starting a new life then I would do so. You don't hear about the jews and gypsies that saw the writing on the wall with Germany and migrated to a better life before WW2, taking with them what wealth they could and starting again. Those that stayed, hoping for the best, were annihilated. Just as it is best to escape a disaster zone I think it is best to escape a developing fascist control of the population. Our 'nanny state' hasn't resorted to armed control of the population as yet, whereas it is not far away in America. I would move and start a new life away from the misery and strife that America is facing, just as I would leave Australia if it was in a similar crisis. b.t.w I think the potential for criminal attacks in the USA is developing at the same rate as the potential for government control. You will be welcomed in Australia and you will find a version of the USA about 20 years ago according to an american expatriate I know. Good luck with it all.
Actually emigrating to Australia from the US is an absolute pain in the arse - my wife went through it. We have one of the toughest immigration regimes in the world (just ask the thousand+ kids being held in our detention centres). You might be lucky though and find you're accepted as a skilled migrant but it's still a long and expensive process. Honestly - all these people here in Australia really should visit the US (and I don't just mean Anaheim and Las Vegas) before passing judgement on the place. I've lived & worked there for a few years, and visited on multiple occasions since. You would be surprised at what a fantastic country it is - even in recession, and if you're reading this forum it's because you're already taking steps to protect your wealth. Apart from the TSA which is the most intrusive part of government in the US, my local council is more repressive than anything experienced over there. Don't get me started on the cost of living here.
SY, yes go hard as fast as you can. BUT you never know when an unexpected bill will pop up and you need cash, so set aside a bit of fiat money (US dollars) to pay for those. For me, it is tempting to convert my crappy, trashy plastic Aussie dollars into silver, but I know silver price is a giant roller coaster and I'm not keen on losing my value, so I set aside some monies to pay bills. VERY slim chance silver will go to $1, if that ever happens, I am robbing a bank, taking out loans blah blah blah and buying as much as humanly possible (of course I am NOT a thief and would not STEAL to BUY silver.. you may as well just steal silver, in which case $ per oz is irrelevant..lol). A few quick facts about silver and gold (but you can find all over the net from many sources): -Silver and gold have intrinsic value - never worth nothing like stocks or paper money for example) -Silver is used industrially with over 2000 patents for its uses - in medical industry, photographic (but that is declining), jewellery industry and electronic industry to name a few -Silver JORC reserves are sitting at around the 14 year mark at current extraction rates (the economically feasible reserves)Australia has the single largest silver ore reserve at at 20%. -Gold historically retains value as it is used as a wealth store. Silver, being used as money at one stage has a combined wealth store BUT also being used industrially fluctuates at the whims of the world economy. -The good thing about silver is that it is running out and there is a demand for it. Even if we have another GFC, that plummets prices..what we know long term is that eventually economies get rolling again and people want to buy more electronics etc and the silver will continue to be used again. -From my knowledge, most of the gold ever mined still exists in vaults around the world etc; -Silver is being used up fast and is becoming rarer than gold. -IF you are worried about the collapse of a silver price, here is my advice-- Buy silver in the first half of this year, watch it climb and outperform gold. At the end of the year or at a reasonable peak - say high $40's or early $50's, swap some silver for a bit of gold. If you find silver drops again, swap the gold back to silver and capitalise on the altering GSR (gold to silver ratio) .. generally speaking, gold price is very stable and is a good way to jump in and out of the silver market while attempting to predict little peaks and troughs (if you like playing around with the market a bit). By having some gold in your portfolio, it allows you to cash out at any point so you don't have to panic when silver is running up and down - your little gold supply's value will remain fairly constant the whole time while you are 'riding' the silver wave. By having 100% silver and little cash, if you need cash quickly and have to sell your silver, there is potential you will lose money if silver is in a trough. I hope that made sense. I try to practice what I preach, so I'll give you my personal strategy for this year and what I have done so far: Focus on 100% silver for most of this year Traded my gold for more silver to capitalise on increases in silver value Sold my relatively new car to buy more silver Spending 80% of upcoming tax refund on Silver Hopefully will be getting a scholarship in the order of $5000 for this semester - guess where its going? Silver. End of the year at around high $40's or $50's I'll be looking to swap SOME silver ounces back to some gold for the reasons I explained earlier. I think having both metals is a great way to work the system while protecting yourself. Having some platinum is also good to own, but being more expensive than gold, not many people can afford much of it. It's industrially used as well in such things as catalytic converters of car exhausts as well as a wealth store. However, I am not as well informed about platinum as I am with the other two. Treat with caution. ALL of this is just my opinion, but I hope you were able to take something from it. All the very best. Shiny Regards, PPSS
I guess what it comes down to is do you honestly believe the united states as you know it will still be here in 6 years.
I'm not one to subscribe to the idea that America will explode or ceast to exist, resulting in a mad max/barter scenario, but a reduction in our national standard of living is inevitable, even imminent. That is our future until middle class jobs come back (which involves a myriad of changes we'd have to make as a society), our tax system becomes more competitive, we have a major tech revolution, etc.. Talking about wives, my wife didn't want me to buy silver when it was $7/oz. and now she's all for it---it only took six years of marriage=) As far as getting firearms...yes, BUT....what are your wife's feelings about having a gun? Are you guys on the same page? I have a Glock 17 9mm and have put 100's of rounds through it and I'm very glad I have it just in case. My wife grew up around guns, so it's no big deal to her. Now to the good stuff....silver! My guess is you saw the hottest products list, which only lists a few items. There are some tabs in the upper middle that say "Catalog" "Nucleo" "IRA" Click on the catalog and it will give you a breakdown between gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Click whichever metal you want and it will show you what they have...same procedure for the nucleo, except it's the individual sellers who are setting the prices, not BD. As far as which coins to buy, U.S. 90% "junk" silver coins make sense if you think you'll need silver to barter with someday. I don't see that happening, but I don't know the future. If you think like me then .999 bullion is the way to go. No offense to the Aussies here, but Perth Mint coins like the Kookaburra and Koala, while beautiful, have higher premiums than other coins. You can't go wrong with American Silver Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs, or Austrian Philharmonics. There are also many private mint silver rounds that are cheaper than gov't minted coins, but you'll get less back for them when you re-sell whereas you'll get (most) of the premium back that you paid for the gov't coins. Buy what you like; it should be fun after all, but there's no need to pay $45 for a one ounce coin like the Chinese Panda (unless you just like pandas!) when you can buy a silver eagle or maple for $37-$38. If you have any more questions about particular types of bullion, gold or silver, lemme know!
In addition to what Renovator said, our cities are tiny compared to those in the US. Your links are comparing cities within the US to Australia the country This link is more appropriate when comparing cities in Oz to the US http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas
Hey! Gun talk is best for other forums But whilst GoldPelican isn't looking here's my next gun Source:http://3.bp.blogspot.com
My thoughts on this is that for a student loan of that size you could walk away from it in a SHTF scenario, and there's not a lot they can do as you still have the skills and they can't take that away from you. Where as debt for a house or car they can physical take them from you if you don't pay up. Another scenario is that through hyper inflation the debt basically becomes worthless as the currency hyper inflates to and you can repay the loan easily with the million dollars notes that they are printing.
Loans are adjusted for inflation. However the same can't be said for your savings. When they say they want 3% inflation what they mean is they want to take 3% of your wealth.
LOL GoldPelican ,,, NOW i KNOW you're the man!! I've been to the states too and couldn't agree more with you... cheers
hi SilverYoo. I'd suggest you concentrate on your family and studies, silver is far less important. Medicine is a fabulous career. You're paid highly for helping people, and can soon enough pay down your debt. If you're concerned about the USA imploding in coming years or decades (which isn't unreasonable), then hold a passport. Spend too much time thinking about precious metals and you could turn into a paranoid delusional sociopath. That might sound absurd but I'm serious. Concentrating on greed and fear is bad for mental health. And if you get a gun then it's more likely to kill your daughter than save her. Good luck but you shouldn't need it. (Did I mention medicine is a fabulous career?) Cheers.
And that passport that was mentioned is mainly gold - the more you have the further you can go. when US gov implodes the US passport will be as worthy as an Albanian passport.
Working hard at your career is all good and well, but if you neglect to make prudent investments then you will end up working hard your entire life and will have nothing to show at the end of it all. A good career - such as being a doctor - is great, but make sure you use that extra earning power well by investing as much as possible and as well as possible. that way you'll be able to get off the treadmill while you're still young enough to enjoy your family and life in general.
$250K for a degree is just plain insane! You can buy half a house here in OZ! No wonder doctors and hospitals charged so much... they gotta pay back their massive debt!
This is true if you buy one and never educate yourself or your family about gun safety. My dad instilled in me and my siblings a respect for the deadliness and irreversible effects of what a mishandled gun can cause. Guess what, we're all alive and we had loaded guns in the house growing up and we all pretty much knew where they were by about age 10. People without experience quote statistics, and statistics are pretty much created by those with agendas - on both sides. And hennypenny, if you've had a loved one that was injured or killed in a gun accident, I mean no disrespect or insensitivity. As for medicine, great choice. My dad is also a doctor and I aspire to be one when I get my act together!
