However not being the end all be all answer to economic woes, one of the only answers at the moment is Gold (gold and silver hoards of the governments and rich/powerful could be used to manipulate the markets at the same time if we go completely digital what good will it be). The problem with Gold is that it ejects you from the banker created/ government regulated economic system. Recent news coming from Europe harks back to the times in history when gold has been outlawed and confiscated from the public.
      Under the guise of attempting to curb  the sales of stolen metals France has passed a law to limit the amount of a metal that can be sold at one time. The law reads in translation as, “Any transaction on the retail purchase of ferrous and non ferrous (metals) is made by crossed check, bank or postal transfer or by credit card, not the total amount of the transaction may not exceed a ceiling set by decree. Failure to comply with this requirement is punishable by a ticket for the fifth class,” going on to confirm that any amount over €450 euros or $600 US dollars “must be paid by bank transfer”.
      The problem here is that the  law does not exclude such precious metals as gold. At the limit of  €450 it is impossible in most circumstances to buy even a half an ounce of gold. For those who look to move their savings into precious metals will find it very difficult to do so with such a law. At the same time the details of the law make it where the transactions will have to be done through a type of a bank transfer. This opens them up to the ability of the government to be able to identify those who have gold in their possession.
      There have been numerous times in history where gold sales or possession have been outlawed. In American history it is little known to most people that during the Great Depression possession of monetary gold was outlawed, and forced confiscation of existing gold through Roosevelt's executive order 6102 in 1933. We are in a depression regardless of what the mainstream media says. Especially with the growing anti-Federal Reserve movement in this country(example: occupy Wall Street) how far are we from our government taking the same drastic measures?