[indigochill]

Although generally I agree with the thrust of this question, supposing someone is adequately prepared to weather the failure of the financial system to some anticipated recovery (and they are correct at predicting the recovery), then a failure is an opportunity to amass wealth by trading actual useful commodities for these bits of paper at extortionate rates, expecting to be able to collect a greater return once the recovery arrives.

That said, I'm mainly playing with a hypothetical here. I'm highly skeptical the system will outright fail simply because the majority of the wealth (and thus power) belongs to those with a deeply vested interest in not letting it fail and there's generally not much power owned by those who actively want it to fail. Fiat has worked this long, so why not longer?

When the chairman of the Federal Reserve becomes a prepper, then you know it's time to find a shelter.