Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I once had quite a lot of gold...bought it in 2001 and rode it up to 2011, then sold it in 2012. Made a nice profit. But that was an investment. I still have a little gold and silver, but not like before.
If it ever comes to collapse, US cash will be valuable for a good while, as people need something to trade with, and cash is what is known to most ppl for the longest time. Never barter with gold or silver; most ppl have never had the metals, and have zero idea of their value.
IMO, if it comes to barter, this is what will be most in demand: 1) food, 2) stabilized gasoline, 3) ammunition, 4) alcohol, and 5) non-GMO seeds. Probably coffee and tea will also have some value, as well as sugar.
It is a soft metal that conducts electricity well.
People who think it is money are the same ones who use words like "catastrophe" and "collapse" in many of their posts. I could use gold to trade because it has value, but I could also go trade a honey ham or exercise bike for something else.
You nailed it. There's a certain segment of doom-and-gloomer type scammers out there who like to sell this fallacy to the paranoid. The idea of gold as a protection against "the collapse of the economic system" ignores the fact that if there's no longer a working economy, why would anyone need or want gold? Food, safe water, and other of life's necessities would become priceless and gold worthless in such a situation.
You can undoubtedly live quite comfortably for the rest of your life in India or southeast Asia on just a couple dozen ounces of gold, and not in some dusty or soggy slum either.
The Chinese, Indians, Vietnamese, Russians, etc. are not idiots. They love gold and would be happy to give you any currency you want in exchange for it, wouldn't matter if you wanted Ecuadorian or Nigerian or Australian currency. That's the exchange value that people see gold as having.
I think the real conversation we should be having is: is it a good idea to have all of your wealth/assets denominated in a single currency? Probably not.
The USD has risen, but from what I understand only because so many of the world's other major currencies and currencies of secondary importance have been falling much faster than the USD is being inflated away. And we all know the USD has been subjugated to the moth of inflation for quite some time now (some would say 101 years at varying speeds).
Silver for a multiple of reasons. It's what a family friend taught me for he grew up during the post WWI Germany and that's what worked then. As a less precious metal than gold, it could be used for day to day needs such as a loaf of bread. Hence, it is easier to stockpile silver in those forms (dimes and quarters) than gold. As old but still viable US currency, there is a greater penalty/less risk in counterfeiting. I'm not saying that it still can't happen but just that the penalty is greater (and it probably comes under a greater watchful eye of enforcement) if it is attempted. There is a point of how it is reported for taxes when one is dealing in old coins vs just the metal. Finally, I find the art work beautiful and the history potentially fascinating.
To the last, when I hold a silver dollar from the 19th century in my hands and think about what history it must have seen. I do, from time to time, include silver dollars in my emergency stockpiling but they are on the outside market; it is easier as in cheaper to deal in dimes, quarters, and half dollars.
In germany they didn't turn to gold or silver back in those days. Everything was pretty much bartering one skill or goods for another.
You can undoubtedly live quite comfortably for the rest of your life in India or southeast Asia on just a couple dozen ounces of gold, and not in some dusty or soggy slum either.
The Chinese, Indians, Vietnamese, Russians, etc. are not idiots. They love gold and would be happy to give you any currency you want in exchange for it, wouldn't matter if you wanted Ecuadorian or Nigerian or Australian currency. That's the exchange value that people see gold as having.
I think the real conversation we should be having is: is it a good idea to have all of your wealth/assets denominated in a single currency? Probably not.
The USD has risen, but from what I understand only because so many of the world's other major currencies and currencies of secondary importance have been falling much faster than the USD is being inflated away. And we all know the USD has been subjugated to the moth of inflation for quite some time now (some would say 101 years at varying speeds).
And that's perfectly fine. I don't plan on living in Southeast Asia so for me it's a nonissue. (And the reason those people value gold more is because their monetary values in a world market are crap either by choice or just their economy ) If had gold and someone wanted to buy it fine. I'll take that cash and buy tangible assets and objects where I'm at. Like houses that I can rent out to people, car I can drive , clothes I can wear, (although that gold shirt is starting to catch my eye)
You're talking about gold in a current global or national economy. Where there is a viable economy with trading. In a normal catastrophe type emergency gold isn't going to do much. You can't trade at a equal value. You still need money as in dollars, francs, euros etc.
In a shtf cataclysm food shelter guns ammo water transportation will have way more value than gold. Wth am I gonna do with gold in a apocalypse. I'm looking for food shelter ammo guns transportation fuel safety. The barter system will be in effect until there is some economy/trading once safe areas are established. And people will still see daily life stuff as more valuable. A toothbrush and tube of paste will be worth more than gold. Try carrying 10 pounds of gold and 10 pounds of water through a desert for 200 miles. I bet the gold gets dumped first.
Unless there is a economy that allows trading even if you get gold you must in turn trade it. Once you to out of stuff to sell you got a bunch of metal that you can't do anything with.
Gold today is nothing more than a commodity to be invested bought sold or manipulated
Last edited by Electrician4you; 11-28-2015 at 05:01 PM..
I always love the shtf cataclysm/apocalypse types. They always make it sound like they survive the initial event. Moral/economic collapse will happen slowly or in a start and stop fashion. Flat out, end of the world events can happen anywhere. Meteor strikes, viral pandemics, nuclear devastation can happen anywhere in the world at any time. There will be a bunch of preppers sitting dead in their driveways, bug-out bag next to them never thinking that they were at ground zero.
I always love the shtf cataclysm/apocalypse types. They always make it sound like they survive the initial event. Moral/economic collapse will happen slowly or in a start and stop fashion. Flat out, end of the world events can happen anywhere. Meteor strikes, viral pandemics, nuclear devastation can happen anywhere in the world at any time. There will be a bunch of preppers sitting dead in their driveways, bug-out bag next to them never thinking that they were at ground zero.
If you really believed that stuff, you'd move to a remote, small, lightly populated tropical island and set yourself up as a subsistence farmer with small grocery store where you can rotate your 10 year stash of Spam, rice & beans, ....
Of course, then the meteor strike would get you from the tsunami.
You can undoubtedly live quite comfortably for the rest of your life in India or southeast Asia on just a couple dozen ounces of gold, and not in some dusty or soggy slum either.
I seriously doubt this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by InchingWest
The Chinese, Indians, Vietnamese, Russians, etc. are not idiots.
Those 3 billion people don't have any idiots among them? Come on man every country has same similar bell curve of smarts, being from Russia or Vietnam doesn't provide any waiver on village idiots.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
at varying speeds).
