Wall Street advisor recommends guns, ammo for protection in collapse
It's always smart to prepare for the worst - especially when "the worst" could be very very bad indeed.
One Wall Street advisor is recommending investors put together a "bug-out bag" that includes food, gun, and ammo in case the financial system melts down and a full blown social collapse occurs.
A top financial advisor, worried that Obamacare, the NSA spying scandal and spiraling national debt is increasing the chances for a fiscal and social disaster, is recommending that Americans prepare a "bug-out bag" that includes food, a gun and ammo to help them stay alive.
David John Marotta, a Wall Street expert and financial advisor and Forbes contributor, said in a note to investors, "Firearms are the last item on the list, but they are on the list. There are some terrible people in this world. And you are safer when your trusted neighbors have firearms."
His memo is part of a series addressing the potential for a "financial apocalypse." His view, however, is that the problems plaguing the country won't result in armageddon. "There is the possibility of a precipitous decline, although a long and drawn out malaise is much more likely," said the Charlottesville, Va.-based president of Marotta Wealth Management.
Marotta said that many clients fear an end-of-the-world scenario. He doesn't agree with that outcome, but does with much of what has people worried.
"I, along with many other economists, agree with many of the concerns expressed in these dire warnings. The growing debt and deficit spending is a tax on those holding dollars. The devaluation in the U.S. dollar risks the dollar's status as the reserve currency of the world. Obamacare was the worst legislation in the past 75 years. Socialism is on the rise and the NSA really is abrogating vast portions of the Constitution. I don't disagree with their concerns," he wrote.
In his latest note, he said that Americans should have a survival kit to take in case of a financial or natural disaster. It should be filled with items that will help them stay alive for the first 72-hours of a crisis, including firearms.
There are some economists who believe a collapse is inevitable. They make a convincing case, but fail in one, important measure; when theory meets reality, the theory usually collapses.
Governments have gotten away with kicking the debt and deficit can down the road, hoping something will turn up to reverse the process. So far, nothing has. But that doesn't mean it can't be reversed, or that the consequences won't be as bad as many are predicting. There are so many unforeseen factors at work that predictability goes out the window when reality intrudes.
What is driving governments in times of crisis is fear of the unknown. The TARP bailout was presented as the only alternative to depression. Same for the auto bailout. Were they right? We'll never know for sure, but I suspect that if the banks had not been "too big to fail," we would have gotten something far less than 1929 and perhaps a little worse than what happened in 2008.
When you think about it, how much worse could it have been? We're 5 years on still suffering from high unemployment and sluggish growth. It's hard to imagine a depression causing much more hardship than Obama's policies have already done.
A financial collapse would be very bad, but would actually lead to neighbor turning on neighbor, and roving gangs of thugs looking to steal food and fuel? No one knows, which makes a "bug out bag" a good investment.