Mattress Savings Plan

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-human-action-under-ultra-low-interest-rates

I just wanted to add commentary on the article above. The "informal economies" to which the article refer are savings which fall outside the traditional demand/savings/share accounts of banks and credit unions. These savings consist almost entirely of hard assets such as physical metals (gold, silver, copper, etc. -- ask me about my "guilder" collection), food, supplies, or other physical assets held by individuals rather than by banks or corporations. For instance, my current "savings plan" consists of investment in long-storing foodstuffs and alternative energy sources for my home. I do hold some traditional investment devices, but they are all easily liquid and I can readily call upon them to assist me in emergencies. But a lot of investors ran into a major liquidity trap in 2007-08 with traditional investments, and we would all do well to learn from those examples.