Preparing for a new Depression

[HappyStroller]

Just as I was about to step into the waters, Warren Buffet appeared with a flourish to announce he would be committing his last hundred million Dollars in American stocks. Not having my own guardian angel to guide me, I thought I'd better stay away from the investment world for a while.

I can't help wondering whether this time things will be very, very different, i.e., there may be no recovery from the ever-spiraling downward financial crisis affecting all financial markets all over the World.

So that turns out to be the case, we will find ourselves living in an economic Depression. The banking system will be in a frozen state. International trade will not be financed. Container ships will rot and be turned into scrap iron. Supermarkets will close down. The World will not have oil from abroad. The airlines will be gone and we'll travel by sail.

Gentlemen, how will elegant living be like in such a time?

[garu]

...Gentlemen, how will elegant living be like in such a time?

Stroller, who can say? I do know that elegance existed in the past, and I can hope that it may also exist in the future. Beautiful clothes to wear and beautiful things with which to surround ourselves are indeed special, but I do believe that the truly elegant person does not need to be wrapped and bejeweled to appear so.

Still, let us hope for better days, eh?

All the best,
garu

[Azdak]

Consider the lilies...

[sta]

http://www.ezakwantu.com/Gallery%20Book ... egance.htm

The above website offers a different view to Western perspectives maybe - quite surprising that tribal elegance amongst the Xhosa tribe of Southern Africa should still feature sock suspenders, snuff spoons and pipes!

Better still, the picture below is of one of the items of currency used by the Songye in the Democratic Republic of Congo

A currency axe! Does not encourage me to look forward to when "the system fails and the machines don't work".

[Costi]

Gentlemen, how will elegant living be like in such a time?

Well, about as elegant as it used to be in the thirties

[Tucker Peterson]

Whenever I feel bad about my economy, I go online and look at Zimbabwe's! I believe they've broken the million percent inflation mark this last year. I heard a truly depressing report on the Beeb this last weekend.

But I doubt that the world's economy will collapse as bad as you fear, HS. I think we will see a period of rough times, but not yet the total financial breakdown. That will come when the oil runs out!

Tucker

[Concordia]

Turn down your heat and invest in Reid & Taylor 16oz

[garu]

Turn down your heat and invest in Reid & Taylor 16oz

Excellent advice, Concordia! Here in Japan, it is common for houses and apartments not to have central heating, just as it was when I lived in the UK. (I had a delightful little house on the Yorkshire North Sea coast with coal-burning fireplaces in every room. Lovely! When the wind would blast in from the North Sea, the entire house would shake. Quite an experience on a cold winter night...)

Living without central heating (or cooling) is no hardship, makes good sense, and is helpful both for the environment and one's pocketbook/wallet. After all, if one is room "a," why pay to also heat (or cool) rooms "b," "c," "d," and "e"?

Best of all, as Concordia has so beautifully summarised, is the opportunity to wear the cloth of the season - tweed, of course!

Ta,
garu

[sartorius]

HS - I think we must show what we Brits like to call "Dunkirk Spirit". That is to say, facing down adversity with straight back, stiff upper lip and, most importantly, by pulling together.

For those not familiar with the term, it was coined following the evacuation of the British Army from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. Surrounded by the Germans and subjected to continual air attack from the Luftwaffe, nearly 350,000 troops were somehow evacuated, many of them in a hastily thrown together flotilla of small fishing boats and pleasure craft. Some argue this was the first turning point in the war because its success boosted British morale and ended any possibility of the British seeking peace with Germany. The return of the army also of course meant that we could defend ourselves from invasion and once that threat had receeded most of the rescued troops were transferred overseas to the Middle East and other theatres, and ultimately provided the nucleus of the army which returned to France in 1944.

So, the moral of the story is this: no matter how bad things look, there is always hope. Pull together and remember that as long as you have 20 quid for a bottle of champagne, life will never be that bad!

[HappyStroller]

The stock market seems to be "unable" to form any meaningful bottom; perhaps this will become a permanent characteristic of post-20th Century stock markets. If so, this may affect our sense of wealth as a illusory measure of stability for the rest of the 21st Century. How would the typical gentleman treat his friend. One day, both may be on par; the next day, one of them has become a social outcast.

The housing market seems to be unable to achieve market price stability. And everyone agrees a gentleman's home is his castle. There will be less assurance many a gentleman will still have a castle!

Six months at the most should reveal to everyone those emperors who do not believe in total transparency actually have clothes; whether the ten largest banks in the U.S. and the ten largest banks in Europe will be around will be known.

If the financial sector freezes, and as the lights turn out gradually over the coming Winter months as supermarkets close down one by one and fewer and fewer giant tankers crossthe oceans, I can imagine each American state will be deploying its own national guard at its own border while President O will be recalling his marines to form a defensive ring around the big cities, leaving our Arab friends to look after their valuable black gold deposits by themselves.

With only 250 million Troy ozs. of gold to back 800 billion Dollars of paper currency, which in turn backs some 8 trillion Dollars in bank deposits, but with 50 to 80 trillion Dollars of debts capable of wiping all banking and corporate capital, will the present form of paper money be carried around in the pockets of gentlemen?

Yes, gentleman, let us each acquire the best stick umbrella or at least a good Malacca cane for self-defence purpose. Just make sure the umbrella or cane has a J-shaped crook.

Anyway, when Spring returns, the sweet dreams will probably be over by the time comrade Karl Marx has dealt fully with the present form of corporate accountability.

Maybe I'll settle down in a horse-back country, dressed in a frock overcoat.

[pbc]

HS - I think we must show what we Brits like to call "Dunkirk Spirit". That is to say, facing down adversity with straight back, stiff upper lip and, most importantly, by pulling together.

Well said. As economic problems are spreading worldwide, I'm curious on a cultural note whether other countries have such a term to identify this kind of spirit and determination. Yes, this is slightly off topic, but at least related. I appreciate the reach we have in the London Lounge and take opportunity to learn. What say you, then? France, Australia, Spain, Brazil, and others?

[Guille]

I'm not sure if we have a similar term... I'll do some reseach. However, we do have a saying expressing the same type of attitude: "al mal tiempo, buena cara", translated as "with bad weather, a good face" literally, it means to be positive and forcefull when hard times come.

[newtom]

HS - I think we must show what we Brits like to call "Dunkirk Spirit". That is to say, facing down adversity with straight back, stiff upper lip and, most importantly, by pulling together.

For those not familiar with the term, it was coined following the evacuation of the British Army from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. Surrounded by the Germans and subjected to continual air attack from the Luftwaffe, nearly 350,000 troops were somehow evacuated, many of them in a hastily thrown together flotilla of small fishing boats and pleasure craft. Some argue this was the first turning point in the war because its success boosted British morale and ended any possibility of the British seeking peace with Germany. The return of the army also of course meant that we could defend ourselves from invasion and once that threat had receeded most of the rescued troops were transferred overseas to the Middle East and other theatres, and ultimately provided the nucleus of the army which returned to France in 1944.

So, the moral of the story is this: no matter how bad things look, there is always hope. Pull together and remember that as long as you have 20 quid for a bottle of champagne, life will never be that bad!

Much as the Prime Minister of the time might have said!

[twersk]

My first ever entry...so here goes...

Sartorius...I don't think we will need Churchill this time, as I don't think it's quite all that bad! Judging by some of the entries in this thread, it seems that the world is over!

"Stiff upper lip?" Why so down? Haven't you all been through a bear market before?

As my broker tells me all the time...buy when things look like they are their grimmest and sell when things look like they are at their best...

Fellow London Loungers...now is the time to start taking advantage of the cheap markets...only way to afford the expensive cloth we all love to wear on our frames, n'est pas?

Brad

[carl browne]

In very good times and in very bad, the four most wrongheaded words in the English language are, "This time it's different." Well, It's not. As sure as day follows night, booms follow busts. Markets are by nature bipolar. We must endeavor not to be.