The present economic crisis is a golden opportunity. Provided, that is, you were smart and invested in gold when you saw that low central bank interest rates and lax monetary policy, combined with the encouragement and outright coercion of banks to lend to people who can’t afford mortgages, could only lead to trouble.

The implications of what started as a credit crisis are rippling out ever wider. When banks are loath to lend, the impact is widespread. Not only can companies not borrow to invest in their operations, even to improve efficiency, but trade finance also becomes hard to come by. As a result, more and more technology companies are reporting a precipitous decline in business, which compounds the difficulty they have to fund existing operations. Under normal circumstances, companies make big news of strong performance.