Grandma's Great Depression advice was right back then and it remains right for right now.

Take your money out of the bank, put it in a sealed coffee can and bury same in your backyard.

Back in the 1930's, the Roosevelt administration called in all gold coins. Law-abiding Americans turned them in for face value. Few originals remain at large. One double eagle could be worth millions today.

My family had 75 or so and like the good Italian-American immigrant citizens they were, obeyed the president. My grandfather objected to no avail. Wish he'd won the argument. I'd own this newspaper.

Alas, love's labours lost.

As I've so oft-stated, I accurately predicted the 2007-08 crash more than two years before it happened. (Barbwire 5-29-2005 et seq.)

I'm no great guru. I just read a lot. The red flags have been out for a year.

My prediction stands that we will start to go down in the third quarter of 2018. I said so in last year's final column (Barbwire 12-27-2017) and the stock market obligingly crashed a couple of weeks later.

Wall Street is supposed to be six months ahead of the general economy, so forewarned is forearmed.

Now, new intel from those far wealthier than me: Swiss gurus who handle billions have bailed from stocks and are investing in gold, silver and other commodities, the clearest warning of recession you can get.

Miserly Warren Buffet, owner of NVEnergy, is nobody's fool. He started buying up public utilities several years ago.

He knows that necessities like electricity and food make money even in a crisis.

May not matter in his case. The US electrical grid is so wide open to Russian hackers that we may not have electricity in the near future.

Try going two years cold and dark, then tell me we are doing the right thing in places like Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Iraq; 'twould be harsh but poetic justice, cruel but just karma.

BARBWIRE POLITICAL STUMBLEBUM OF THE YEAR. The frontrunner is the guy who Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak is going to fire after the well-monied Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner reads this column.

Sisolak is running a TV spot statewide featuring southern Nevada congresscritter Dina Titus endorsing him. Nowhere are viewers informed that she's a Nevada congressmember.

All the new resident-voters will assume she's from some southern state, given her Georgia twang. Non-Nevadans telling Nevadans how to vote has always been a negative.

Worse, Reno City Councilmember Jenny Brekhus appears in the foreground of the crowd shot in the Titus spot. But Ms. Brekhus is supporting Sisolak's primary opponent. Here's her response:

I hope that staffer has good unemployment insurance.

FIGHT NIGHT. Sisolak and Giunchigliani squared off in a statewide televised live debate last Monday night. It aired on Reno and Las Vegas TV stations.

Too bad neither campaign nor the Washoe Democratic Party sent out notices. I did so to targeted Dems and the Barbwire Confidential HushHush subscriber list. Didn't have time to go deep.

What's the old saw? Oh, yeah: Democrats don't win campaigns, Republicans lose them.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Both candidates are experienced pols and did fairly well on the issues. But on TV, image is everything.

Sisolak scowled at the camera throughout. Bad form. Bad coaching.

Amateurish advisors plague both campaigns but Chris G looked more personable.

Advantage to the lady teacher.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)WEB XTRAS & SMOKING GUNS —>