Not really the Europe proper, but still... From my Balkan perspective:
Are there lots of people losing their jobs that you know?
Not many that I know - maybe 2 or 3 - all in private sector.
Prices of food/energy say in the last 12 months or so?
On the rise, not sure exactly how much, maybe 10-30%.
How many of your friends/acquaintances are aware of PMs...is it well known?
None, except those I've met buying or selling silver. It is one of the best kept secrets - general public is absolutely clueless about PMs. In their defense, there is still in force government ban on bullion (from the old days of communism) +18% VAT on all new non-bullion items (e.g. modern commemoratives).
Are the average Joes preparing for SHTF?
Not really, average J6P struggles to make ends meet. What's left of middle class has been preparing since 2009, but their idea of preparing for SHTF is withdrawing Euros from their saving accounts and putting them in bank SDBs. (It worked well during our hyperinflation of 1993.) Those that are fearful of Euro collapse usually buy Swiss franc instead. Few buy gold and/or silver.
Difficult to asses. There are many that are openly fearful of "repeat of 1993" (our synonym for SHTF) while others are in complacent mood ("bring it on", "it can be no worse than what we have already been through").
How saturated is the media with Gold/Silver advertising/news?
Except occasionally when gold hits new high, media is completely ignoring PMs. No advertising at all (partly due to the ban).
All above being said - people have started to notice rising prices of PMs and "We buy gold" signs popping all around (especially when large chain of currency exchange offices started doing it). Number of stackers is on the rise, though still very small (e.g. from 0.1% to 0.2% of population). But supply still outstrips demand (i.e. there's more people selling than buying).
Argentum said:
The countries that were doing it tough before the all of this economic collapse that is going on are not feeling it as much. I come from a south east european country from a city where in early 90's there was nearly noone unemployed. We had a war all jobs got lost and since then things have not improved. I go back every few years and common ppl complain but yet they have enough for luxuries holidays etc its weird. One thing thy havent got is debt. Noone has a homeloan. Noone takes out loans to buy a house. If you want a to build house you buy the concrete lets say this month , 3 months later you buy the bricks etc while renting. There isnt much social spending so ppl dont expect much from the government. You pretty much need to work to have nough food, electricity phone bill. Not every house has a car as they dont need 1 everything is walking distance.
So when GFC 2 hits the people in these countries wont be as f***** since they are used to surviving on low incomes. Back in oz when that happens we wont know what hit us, its slowly happening you can see on news Quantas shedding so many jobs, ABC etc, and this is nothing yet
Fortunately or unfortunately, where I live most people can not qualify for loan. Average monthly wage is 340 Euros, while many work for meager 200 Euros.
Even if one is fortunate to work for 1000 Euros, unless he works in public sector or for foreign company, chances are he will only receive 30% of his pay through legal channels (bank account) while the rest he will receive "under the table", so he can't qualify for loan either.
