Gold has been the investment of choice for investors who see all kinds of economic calamities hitting the world economy, from hyperinflation to hyper deflation, to the collapse of the dollar, and nation states.

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Hindenburg, for instance, and even the torpedoing, just three years after the Titanic sank, of the Lusitania, another great liner whose passenger list boasted the rich and the famous, were calamities that shocked the world but have failed to generate an obsessive preoccupation.

NEWYORKER: Unsinkable

New York will need federal help to protect it from future calamities, and the world will need leadership on climate change in order to reverse this terrible trend.

FORBES: The Bathtub. Lower Manhattan's Wall Against Water.

While I believe the U.S. remains poised for modest growth in 2013 (assuming no policymaker-induced calamities), much of the emerging world is better positioned.

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Financial calamities are becoming increasingly likely in this overly indebted world of ours and the death of paper currencies is becoming increasingly certain.

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Not unlike a certain kitchen pest, which can withstand mammoth calamities that kill larger animals in the ecosystem, payday lenders like World Acceptance chugged along relentlessly during the financial crisis that brought down financial giants like Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual.

FORBES: Connect