One big problem I have with the Gold/Silver crowd is that gold and silver can be easily confiscated and even made illegal.

Therefore, these commodities would probably be relegated to value in a blackmarket situation exclusively.

And forget the Euro. That's being used as the other end of the rubber band against the dollar.

Just my opinions, of course.

And to be honest OP, I'm not sure what the answer is to your question. I would think the best answer is to convert some of your dollars into usable items such as food, medicine, tools, water, etc.