Buy gold.
I beg your pardon. Obviously, that should be three-quarter trillion-dollar-or-more deficits.
It’s still not exactly clear to me what it is you’re asking.
Let me see if I have it right: You have some amound of money. You don’t want to invest it. You want to put it into a bank. You’re worried because you think Bush is a bad president who will win another term, and this might cause some sort of banking crisis. You want to know what country has banks that are more stable and less prone to risk than the US.
Also, you aren’t interested in advice from anyone who doesn’t share your bizarre beliefs that there is an eminent banking crisis caused by Bush.
OK. I don’t think you’re going to find many people who share your unfounded speculation that there is any problem with the US banking system, caused by Bush or not. So, I’m going to go ahead answer your question.
Banks in the US are the safest place to put your money in the world.
When you put money into a bank, it’s insured by the FDIC. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corportation). They insure the first $50K. If you have more than that, then spread it around to different banks. Basically, if the bank you have money in goes under than the federal government will give you your money that they lost. Other countries have similar systems. However, these systems are only as good as the governments that back them. The US is largely regarded as the most stable government around. Because of it’s wealth and military and postion it is the least likely government to fall, be conquered, become insolvent, etc. Because of this when the US government says they will back something it is largely regarded as financially safe as it gets. This is why US treasury bills and bonds are considered the safest investment in the world by nearly everyone.
I thought it was $100k but whatever. You are absolutely correct. Short of hyperinflation (which we are not in any danger of at this time) or some kind of massive devaluation of the US dollar, I just can’t imagine a scenario in the near to mid term where putting your money elsewhere would have significantly less risk. There are certainly opportunities in foreign investments, but are we talking about making money or saving what we already have?
It almost sounds like bizzarro reasoning - “I think MAYBE there will be a total collapse of the most powerful economy on Earth because I don’t like GW Bush so I am going to be smart and keep all my money stashed safely in the Bank of Nicaragua or something.”
Yep. I stand corrected. It’s a $100,000 limit.
Dare I say that this scenario sounds very LaRouchian to me. Perhaps you should plumb his website for advice about the coming “worldwide banking crisis”.
The reality of how any economy works is much more complex than you are giving it credit for. Any president would have a tough time starting a banking crisis, even if that was his aim from the beginning. Jumping in to foreign currency markets may be a bit of an over reaction to your fears.
Judging by your OP and other comments you’ve made, I suggest that the best thing you could do is stash your money in short term CD’s (That’s Certificates of Deposit, NOT Compact Discs )in American banks for 90 to 120 days while you educate yourself on financial matters.
If, as you claim, Japanese and Chinese investors are buying up American securities, there’s a reason for them doing so. Discover what that reason is.
An awful lot of money has been lost betting against the American dollar. Find out who lost it and how it was lost.
Interest rates in the U.S. are, in general, lower than rates in other countries. Find out why.
At your current level of knowledge you and your money will soon be parted. You, and only you, can prevent that. Read some books.
I’ll move it from IMHO to The BBQ Pit, but I won’t place any bets on which way the vitriol is going to flow.
Too late, Czarcasm. I already responded to the OP with a reasonable, non-insulting post.
It’s a shame, really. If only I’d waited. It just doesn’t feel right anymore to start flinging insults, even to rjung. 
Hey, I don’t need to take this abuse from you – I’ve got a wife for that!
rimshot
Wait, what? Oh, damn. Maybe I should have kept reading before clicking that amazon.com link.
My God, what has happened to my little baby?
First off, I got my info from Paul Krugman, a Pinceton economist, who has a regular column in the NY Times. Three years ago he was considered an ungodly crank because he made the outrageous claim that the Bush administration frequently used fake figures to justify its policies. Boy, did he turn out to be a complete wacko or what? Bush misleading us? The idea! Hey, I know! Why don’t we have some fun at his expense by comparing him to LaRouche? That’s bound to appeal to all you sophisticates here.
Now the problem is, the New York Times only has its stuff up for free for a week. After that you gotta pay $2.25 per article. I don’t expect anyone here to pony up money to verify so I’m kinda of stuck in the cite department.
As for the Japanese and Chinese knowing what they’re doing. If there’s one thing the last century should have taught us it’s that the Japanese and Chinese have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. World War II, anyone? How about the Great Leap Forward? Or how about the Japanese economic bubble when they were going to take over our pathetic econmy? Man, those were the days. Some people here seem to be laboring under the false notion that just because a certain people keep putting money into the same thing it, therefore, must be a good investment. You know, like NASDAQ or the Dutch Tulip craze. Glad to see some of you guys are just like Bush in your amazing ability to learn from history and experience.
Brad DeLong of Billmon.org, one of the most respected blogs on the Internet is also on the case: http://billmon.org/archives/000536.html
Of course there’s also conservative economist Paul Volcker who put the chances of a financial crisis in the next five years at 75%.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/business/23935.html
Please do ignore the potentially disasterous consequences of continued massive deficits (which, by the way, are now said to be coming in at the rate of $400 billion a year which is an improvment over earlier estimates but still really bad). Why, I’m just a silly old paranoid, that’s all. I mean, really, I’m no better than Lyndon LaRouche if you think about it.
I can get 6.4% interest on CDs in a New Zealand bank. On the other hand, Iceland is about to start the planet’s first hydrogen-based economy which should stand it in good stead during the coming gas crunch even though their interest rates suck. Hm.
I think you should invest in tin foil.
Damn, I make it through this whole thread, and the last post was the one that stole my joke.
/walks out of the room in a huff
I too, keep wondering how we can continue to run enormous deficits without consequences. Suppose the Us Government finds out one day that there are NO buyers for its debt? Interest rates go up…and up…finally, the government decides to inflate its way out of debt, so the printing presses go to work…and 6-18 montsh later, inflation takes hold.
All of a sudden, that $200,000 house now sells for $1,200,000…and that car that was once $25,000 now sells for $125,000. Your paycheck increases, but not by a factor of 5. meanwhile, oil prices surge.
So what should you do?
-Dump all stocks and bonds, convert all spare cash into gold or real estate
-borrow as much as possible (at a fixed rate)
-buy hoses, using fixed rate mortgages
-borrow
This is eaxactly waht you should have done in the early 1970’s…had you done so, you would have emerged a millionaire by the mid-1980’s! Your debts would have been wiped out, and you would own a huge amount of real estate. Had you kept your money in stocks and bonds, you would have lost 75-80% of your capital.
I think there is evidence that such a scenario will repeat…what signs would the government give if it planned to turn to inflation?
I’m wondering along similar lines - but it isn’t the governments deficits that worry me so much as American consumer deficits. Someday, the shit has got to hit the fan. .