RE: confusedSilvercoin, as someone who used to have the proverbial negative outlook that pervades goldbugs(not saying you hold only negative outlooks), etc, I can appreciate your viewpoint.
But one thing I've learned over the years is that there are people who hold this viewpoint to stake out a nitch contrarian point of view not only because they believe some/all of it but also for economic gain(ravi batra, howard ruff, James Grant, etc). Most of these types were wrong in the bull market of the 90's and have been Johnny one noters for a long time. Just like a broken clock, they may be degree of accuracy at some point but their outlandish claims rarely come true(ie. gold is not just going up, it's goin to da moon!!...$2000 gold). Besides, if some of these do come true, there might be such a disruption to world living conditions, I don't think you'll want to be living in it or may need a small arsenal to guard your riches!
I mean if these people are not selling something(newsletters, books, etc) they are not eating. They have a financial interest in espousing what they do. So while I do pay attention to some of the more reputable people who hold these points of view(not that I agree totally with them), I don't follow their predictions thinking they have the market cornered on future economic wisdom. Most of them are quite ill equipped to deal with these subjects objectively because either they lack the broad knowledge to do so(some haven't changed their outlook since the 87 crash), have become temporarily blinded to other points of view, or they have to dish out this economic 'red meat' to their subscribers who demand it.
I've potentially lost a lot of money in the overall scheme of things over the years holding this bearish viewpoint that the so-called experts espoused. Obviously, this was my mistake and because of this, I tend to think more independently now.
One of the reasons I am writing this is to warn newbies to the investing scene that sometimes you can't blindly follow consensus(especially if your only tuned to one point of view) and have to get a broad view from many sources.
I don't doubt that some negative things may be on the horizon for the traditional markets in general but just advising people to be careful and do wise dd! All JMHO..............