Good question, and one for which I have no answer.
But here’s a couple of things I’m doing - I’ve been holding my savings until this day, thinking about adding on to the house and/or buying a new car. No chance now - I do NOT want to spend any more than necessary in this economy. In essence,
I’m going Galt on the spending side only, choosing not to give up my job (unless it gives me up first). They’d just fill it with someone else so the net effect would be bad for me, not so much for anyone else.
Big issue now is where to put my savings where it will hold its actual value and cannot be confiscated by a bankrupt government. Precious metals seem a little high right now, and are a bit of a gamble. Perhaps not as much a gamble as the US Dollar but still a little risky.
As somebody said, skills are worth more than gold. You can trade skills more easily and they are far more portable than gold or anything else.
Your wealth should be tied up in things you can use, like clothes, food, tools. Having it tied in some sort of financial arrangement, whether it be bonds or gold or whatever, is not as valuable if nobody is buying.
One of my big fears is that an increasingly desperate US government will find ways to confiscate retirement accounts under some guise of protecting them and also impose a capital assets tax to get at the wealth that people are trying to protect. I don't know how to fully protect against this, but my sense is that people need to move valuables out of the reach of the US government which is a tall order. Even Swiss bank accounts turned out not to be inviolable.
And we certainly can't have that now can we?
SFF, galting only works if the result costs the govt money. Will you pay your taxes?
It would be better to pay off all debt, and then if you have enough to pay cash, get the car. I'm expecting hyper-inflation by the end of Obama's term, which would make your cash worthless.
Do the home repairs, replace the car, don't hold on to too much cash.