When it comes right down to it, there really is no place to hide. Governments can do just about anything without notice (confiscate gold, cash, impose martial law, etc. - remember the War Measures Act?). The ony thing we can do is diversify our wealth (equities, property, different currencies, mattress, etc.), and try not to worry too much. After all, the probability of these gloom & doom events is still quite low.

What does worry me is the housing situation in Canada. The banks are probably OK, because the first 25% of mortgages are covered by a combination of down payments and CMHC insurance. What isn't OK is the $600 billion in mortgage insurance held by CMHC. If we had a housing drop similar to what happened in the US, most of that 600 billion would be lost. This would effectively double the national debt!

Taxpayer liability of CMHC is essentially a pre-planned bank bailout. If housing goes south in Canada, expect much higher taxes to cover the cost.