Well...

...you start off on an upbeat note and end somewhere near Armageddon and the chasms of despair. ;-)

I think hyperinflation is unlikely. The stock market will be a good investment for the biotechs which hold any patents on cloning as the FDA is paving the way for them. Gold is fine as a longterm investment should your doomsday scenario pan out. The Euro is a short term money maker if one has enough to invest though timing your investment and return requires astute judgement. It's been rising steadily the past year - the question is has it peaked? I think it has another few months of gain on the dollar to go and will drop off again in March or April of next year. Just a hunch.

Real property is always a pretty good investment and it's nice to have secured property(ies) to fall back upon if everything else goes blooey. Investments such as art, vehicles, coins, etc. are all nice longterm holdings and can appreciate if you choose carefully.

I think that inflation will be modest because the recovery will be modest and will occur in the latter half of 2004 and probably stabilize by 2005. Greenspan will gently raise the rates and by this time next year loans will be up another 4 or 5 percent -at most - maybe 6 percent. This will keep inflation in check and will signal the cue for stocks to get another shot in the arm - because the Fed will hope to make its money back off of stock taxes.

Once the left gives up on the 2004 Presidential race - the economy will see another boost and we will probably see some more tax cuts. By 2005 the economy could be close to its "pre-collapse of the dot.coms" state if everything goes well. Look for sales of luxury cars to pick up and SUVs popularity will peak as boomers buy cars they can get into and park easily. The folks of Generation X will be at their peak earning years and will spend a good deal as well. Boxy cars are back after the spheroid shapes played themselves out and a whole new generation can think that the square look is new.

I see pro$perity ahead for America. We stay the course. We ignore the news from Iraq for awhile and focus on infrastructure and business at home. And we make sure we keep our eyes on the mergers that threaten to weaken our competitive and capitalistic underpinnings.

C'mon America, spend...spend....spend!

;-)

SDAI-Tech1