Special for John Carroll and others that are interested in
the economy. Note metal content.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...and-bonds.html
The New York University professor, Nassim Taleb, who made
his name predicting the credit crunch, has told investors to
dump equities and government bonds and buy 'hard assets'.


By James Phillips, citywire.co.uk
Published: 10:55PM BST 18 May 2010
snip
The New York University professor, Nassim Taleb, who made
his name predicting the credit crunch, has told investors to
dump equities and government bonds and buy 'hard assets'.

He has poured scorn on the economic recovery, claiming that
the global economy is in worse shape than it was during the
subprime crisis and warns that the US could yet lurch into a
Greek-style meltdown.
snip
His main concern is that the transferal of debt from the
private to the public sector has seen the risks within the
financial system increase and 'take a much more vicious
form.'

Western governments have been issuing record levels of debt
to keep the recovery afloat, but Taleb says that it is
inevitable that at some point they will struggle to find
buyers of these assets.
snip
So how should investors position their portfolios for such a
doomsday scenario? Taleb, who made millions betting against
financials during the credit crunch, recommends investors
dump long-term government bonds and only hold short-dated
debt. He also warns against viewing the dollar as a hedge
against the ailing euro, pointing out that both currencies
face the same underlying problems.

He dismisses the stockmarket, which would be expected to
perform badly in a period of hyperinflation, completely,

"I recommend not thinking about the stockmarket," he said.
"It is a big hoax that has disappointed people over the last
decade making their retirement plans, thinking it would
appreciate."

"Use it as something to play with for entertainment and
nothing more."

He favours moving into hard assets and advises investors to
build exposure to a basket of metals rather than try and
second guess which individual hard commodity will
outperform. He also likes agricultural land, but said avoid
'speculative real estate'.
snip

-- Unka George (George McDuffee)
...............................
The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there.
L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author.
The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).