If there is some sort of financial meltdown and economic apocalypse, I would rather have canned food, gasoline, toilet paper, and pharmaceuticals stockpiled than precious metals. (Cigarettes and booze would probably be valuable as well.)
As far as the whole OMG ZERO INTEREST RATE thing is concerned, I'm not sure how prevalent a problem this is. Rich people have been investing their money abroad for a long time, and the current crisis is unlikely to change that. Good investors seek to maximize returns and minimize losses, and smart investors accomplish that by
diversifying investments--spreading their money out over multiple investments in multiple countries and industries, so that at the very least, they don't lose everything.
Interest rates on bonds, certificates of deposit, and similar investments here in the USA are pathetic right now. Bernanke has decided to maintain the Zero Interest Rate Policy until at least 1st quarter 2014. I'm not so sure that's the best move, because banks are still reluctant to lend and people are reluctant to save and invest. On the other hand, if the Fed raises the interest rates, it could slow GDP growth down even further. They are caught between Scylla and Charybdis, so to speak.
Even the major developing economies (e.g. China, India, etc.) seem to be slowing down, largely in response to weak demand in the developed world. Eventually, it will bottom out--and at that point, governments will have to respond, or risk facing an "Arab Spring" type of situation in their own countries.
