Rodney

What to do? One strategy is to park your cash in some relatively strong foreign currency that'll maintain most or all of its value if the dollar craters. After it does, if it does, invest appropriately in the U.S. at the new, lower prices. Under this scenario, housing prices would be rock bottom in a couple of years -- take your cash and invest in a foreclosure or two. There should be enough of them to go around. And the best time to buy is when everyone else is trying to unload -- if the deal is favorable to you.

Just parking your cash in a foreign account or in foreign-denominated bonds doesn't get you a great return. But if something really bad is going to happen at all, it'll probably come along pretty quickly -- I'd say more likely two years or less than five or more.