<prompt> Human: For the sake of argument, assume the US economy is on a path of gradual decline that will be characterized by growth stagnation, intermittent bubble bursts that destabilize the whole economy, and periodic plateaus, but an overall downward trend. What are the implications for optimal saving and investment strategies? Mix of bonds and cash? Bills under the mattress? I dont fully understand the concept, but is there a way too short the US economy as a long-term investment strategy i.e., invest long-term on the assumption of declining performance?Please treat this as more of an intellectual exercise- Im not particularly interested in why this set of assumptions might or might not be correct, but I am very interested in its hypothetical implications for personal savings and investing.  <response>: I dont even think international investments will be safe if we work under the assumption that the US is truly on a steady decline type of situation. The world markets are SO interconnected and the US is SUCH a big part of that environment that any decline of the US will likely be accompanied by a decline abroad. So we have to talk about how you make money when EVERYTHING is going down the tubes.Those suggesting goldsilvergunsetc. seem to be thinking more short term COLLAPSE and not necessarily the long term decline you are assuming. If there are still some booms and busts left in the economy, you COULD make some money trying to ride one of those, but thats a dangerous tiger to chase. Its easy to be wrong a lot and then miss the peak when youre trying to predict the market like that.I think jdoe might be right about short selling, but I think you could reasonably expand your pool of potential companies to almost anything, if youre playing the true LONG game here. Assuming long term US decline assuming worldwide market decline, at least in the world as it is today. 