HISTORY 2012: The End is Now (History, 9 p.m.) Hold off on paying those bills. According to some interpretations of the Mayan calendar, the world is supposed to end today, in which case nobody’s going to mind if you skip a credit-card payment. In this gloomy special, author and conspiracy theorist Brad Meltzer deconstructs the doomsday prophecy and posits several theories on the manner in which civilization could potentially come crashing to an end. The program includes visits to several survivalists who have created elaborate private bunkers for the big extinction event.
The best of the web on money, markets and all things financial, as chosen daily by Globe and Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick.
How to set up a doomsday portfolio
Some thoughts on how to protect your portfolio if the U.S. government defaults on its debt. This Reuters article appeared before the last-minute agreement to keep funding government operations, but it remains relevant in light of the fact that the deal lasts only until early February.
Money spoken here
The Boomer & Echo blog lists its top four personal finance communities online, including my own Facebook personal finance page.
Fun and games
This infographic looks at the financial aspects of owning video game systems like Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's new PlayStation 4.
After the flood
This article from a website for insurance brokers provides some perspective on the rising number of flooding-related home insurance claims. A point made here is that the industry needs to do a better job of encouraging people to take steps to prevent flooding or limit the damage when it does happen.
More money
Join the 32,000+ people who subscribe to my Facebook personal finance community for talk about investing, retirement, real estate, banking and other financial matters. I'm also on Twitter.
Rob Carrick