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As a last-ditch inflation hedge it is a good idea to stock up on pre-1981 pennies or any nickels as they are worth close to their amount in metal, or even more. Since the virtual money supply is unlimited the physical coin supply is a great inflation fighter. If you need spending cash during hyperinflation it is likely that coins will hold their value more than paper on the black market. I like to stock up on coins to search for collectibles. In the past I have found some interesting coins and two highly collectable ones from customer wraps at the bank. My question is whether there is somewhere else to get a few hundred dollars in coins than just the bank. The bank often does not have enough, and I am looked at as a president of the "tin foil hat" club as I cart out boxes and bags of heavy coins. Some friends get buckets of coins from casinos in Vegas, but we do not have that option here. When the economy falls off the cliff is there any place to pick up a big batch of metal to replace the toilet paper FRN'S?
Yeah sure -- shiny beads are a good thing to stockpile too.
Have you ever been in any country that had an active black market? I have, and each of them had no issues with paper money.
Dude, you ARE in the tin foil hat club if you really think that things are ever going to get the point were coins are to trade for more than currency. If anything ever comes to that horrible situation you'd be trade in BULLETS for livestock / grain.
Certainly it can be a fun and marginally profitable hobby to search for numismatically valuable coins but surely you realize that any special value that collectors assign to such things is every bit the 'fiction' of the value of paper money, don't you? If society were collapse to such a point it is not as if there are enough people with the skills / knowledge / need to smelt copper or nickel or silver.
1) You're assuming that THE WORLD'S MOST DIVERSIFIED, AND THUS TOLERANT, ECONOMY, THE MOST LIQUID ECONOMY, AND THE MOST PRODUCTIVE WILL EXPERIENCE A TOTAL FALLING-OUT. Yes, you do belong in the tin-foil hat club
2) You're assuming that should that happen, the black market will accept anything related to the old system.
3) You're assuming you will not need to be heavily armed and have good neighbors in the countryside to help out with farmers markets. Buy up guns if you really thing the **** is going to hit the fan.
4) You're assuming that gold / silver will not be worthwhile. WRONG! Gold has been used since time began for currency. Why should the future be different?
I recommend taking a breath, reading REAL news and not hyperventilatory perma-bear blogs like Zero Hedge, and see the latest unemployment / inflation numbers. Find the numbers, crunch them yourself, and forget the doomsday cults and perma-grizzlies, but also be wary of perma-bulls. Remember everyone has an agenda when it comes to the economy. Last I checked, foreign governments and large funds still fund the debt and will keep inflation low. Long term it's bad, yes. But I highly doubt we will see Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation. The only way that would happen is if the world dumps our money and stops using the dollar as currency for foreign trades. It just isn't going to happen. After investing all that capital into our debt the foreign governments want a return on investment, NOT liquidation. We haven't pissed off the world enough for them to do that.
Well I have already stocked up on ammo, although I do make a lot of my own anyway. Have had rifles and pistols for some time now. Also have a lot of contacts in the country where I will eventually be moving to myself. The reason I am interested in coins is that they are not just currency but actual wealth. You have nickel and copper that can be used for electroplating, wire, and even to make ammo. Gold and silver are worth having if you buy them as scrap and not from a dealer. Just is more difficult to sell it or barter with because few people can attest to the purity. Coinage is rarely counterfeited and would be trusted even after the whole US currency collapsed. I know that inflation is in the future and this government has no way to pay off all its debt. Short of war the future will involve high inflation because inflation is all we have had for the last century. Past performance sets future trends.
1) You're assuming that THE WORLD'S MOST DIVERSIFIED, AND THUS TOLERANT, ECONOMY, THE MOST LIQUID ECONOMY, AND THE MOST PRODUCTIVE WILL EXPERIENCE A TOTAL FALLING-OUT. Yes, you do belong in the tin-foil hat club
2) You're assuming that should that happen, the black market will accept anything related to the old system.
3) You're assuming you will not need to be heavily armed and have good neighbors in the countryside to help out with farmers markets. Buy up guns if you really thing the **** is going to hit the fan.
4) You're assuming that gold / silver will not be worthwhile. WRONG! Gold has been used since time began for currency. Why should the future be different?
Our economy, diversified? Really? Our economy is based on bubbles. Like the one the gubmint is trying to air up right now. We don't make anything and now we aren't buying anything.
Also, as for using gold as currency, someone has to accept it. Have you found a landlord who has taken gold for a rent payment? I have yet to find that person. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, I doubt there would have been any takers of gold over bottled water or gas for a generator. Just my hunch.
Sure, the fit hasn't hit the shan, but we've got the armament thing down. Commissioned security guards for family members, FTW.
we've got the armament thing down. Commissioned security guards for family members, FTW.
Devalued currency was a problem even for the Roman Army...
Don't get me, I completely DISAGREE that the US economy is likely to be in sort of crisis anytime soon, but if your "plan" for dealing with turmoil is to have "private security force" seems to me that "force" would demand some very valuable compensation and that would create a giant set of problems. The whole reason that a system of 'public security forces' (from the Army to police to guards at the Federal Reserve) works is because it is pre-supposed to INCREASE the overall stability of the whole Nation.
ANy mass instability would quickly turn in to something might look like not just civil war, but mass chaos. Anyone remember Iraq after the invasion and Saddam's loyalists realized they weren't getting paid? Can you say "looting spree"???
Why would I trade my goods for your coins when I can simply rob you? If it ever gets that bad, all currencies would be pretty much useless....paper or otherwise.
By the way, I once read a newspaper headline titled: SURVIVALIST KILLS SELF. He was a long time stockpiler of guns, ammo, non-perishable food items, medical supplies etc with the goal of surviving the armageddon that was coming. One sunny day, he shot himself. Apparently he was depressed.
look at how many pennies it would take to make a pound of pennies. Do you have enough room in your house to hold enough pennies to buy food for a week? They are not pure copper either. You will have to smelt a lot of them down to get a pound of pure copper.
And while you are saving, don't forget about all that mercury in thermometers. Or the silver on X-ray films.
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So, uh, what you gonna pay THEM with???
