So I think the situation is not as bad as you think. everything is still manageable and the Fed is doing a good job of continuously reducing interest rates.
Situation is worst then ever before, government is just trying to cover that. They manage to bail out huge banks and their mistakes, they manage to bail out some countries, Greece for example, but in long run that financial crisis will come and bubble will burst. Trade wars around are just like sparks, we see them here and there, and I think that one of these sparks will create a big fire, sooner or later.
It is not possible and at some point the whole thing will crash and the best way to protect ourselves is to be debt free and to have assets that will go up when such crisis happens.
I agree with you, better to have assets that appreciate for long term hold. But, the financial crisis I think has to cycle, the government needs to ease it. When there is a crisis all is affected, better to be ready or prepared for it by starting now by buying some assets that can withstand those crisis.