Someone "claims" their share of equities by selling but someone else buys. Today I'm buying to invest in my future, someone that's in retirement is selling to fund their remaining years. Are you suggesting we won't have new generations that buy?

I've always thought that the people most vocal about preparing for societal collapse seem to be the people least likely to thrive in anarchy. When there is no law and order, we will be ruled by gangs and warlords, not by bootstrapping libertarians hanging on to gold coins and grandpa's shotgun. Nobody is going to care that you have a deed that shows you "own" a farm or that you put a little fence around it.

I have a few acquaintances who consider themselves "peppers". When social distancing and travel restrictions started at the beginning of COVID, they were pretty much the first ones to crack and start complaining on social media about how unfair it was that they couldn't go shopping for khakis. So much for rugged self-reliance!

betting on the collapse of the social order is a bad bet. sure, it may happen eventually, but it is unlikely to happen within an average person's lifetime.