"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
Use The Next To Worthless American Dollar Or Else!
Ah, I always knew I was a terrorist at heart, putting the economic stability of the nation at risk with my trading, bartering, and preferring something with tangible, real value to the pathetic paper issued by the State. “Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,” U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said. “While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country.” You know, woman, your Orwellian bullshit – and that of your ilk – is going to backfire one day. Keep defining terrorist down until we are all terrorists, please. Y’all look more ridiculous and less in charge with each passing day. We see you for what you are and we don’t respect you. We’ll trade what we want to trade, be it our time, our labor, our goods, or coins and currency of our own making, purchase, or choice. Who is going to stop us? Not the State, which is rapidly becoming increasingly irrelevant in the day-today living of a growing proportion of the population. I think we’re moving towards the tipping point and I believe I’ll see that tipping point in my lifetime.
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G'day Sharon Secor,
It is my opinion that gold and silver do not have "tangible, real value". I believe that they are merely a "perceived value", which, in my opinion, can be easily demonstrated by this.
I suspect that in a hardcore SHTF scenario there will be a real scarcity of safe food, potable water, and adequate shelter (includes clothing); at that point in time what kind of "tangible, real value" will gold and silver have to you and your family? I think chasing after gold and silver may be a fools errand, but I could be wrong; there may still be individuals who prefer "shiny stuff" over real, tangible value.
We've probably all seen movies where greedy individuals have a cave collapse on top them because they can't escape while carrying arms full of gold, silver and/or jewels that are weighing them down.
In truth, on that matter, I agree with you completely. I always advocate the purchase of nonperishable goods one will need, as opposed to spending a whole lot on gold and silver. I have the conversation frequently, and my typical line is this -- rich people buy gold, but poor people like us, our best bet is food, seeds, tools, etc. Far better to buy clothing and shoes in sizes your kids will grow into than hold a bunch of inflation eaten dollars. Another aspect of buying gold is... well, great you can buy stuff, but who's gonna have change for that gold piece?
Now, as I was discussing with a friend last night, the point about the silver is this. If we choose to do business among ourselves, then our mode of trade is our business. If I ask him to build me a wall and decide I'll give him a pig and fresh bread weekly for 6 months, fine. If I offer him housecleaning and clothing repair for my wall and he accepts, fine. If I offer him silver in an amount we agree upon that's fine, too. What we agree upon for my wall is nobody's business but our own, and we'll do as we please, regardless of what the State says. The State cannot stop our private arrangements not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
As always, I am pleased that you have taken the time to comment and I always enjoy reading your thoughts. Have a wonderful day.
Well, gold and silver do have real tangible value, just like anything does. They also have trade value, more universally recognized than anything else but fiat currencies - and the latter do not historically have staying power when governments print more of them, unlike gold and silver.
Nothing wrong with barter, as long as you can find what you need. It's when barter gets clumsy where gold and silver become useful. It makes no more sense to have only guns and a garden, with no gold or silver, than it does to have gold and silver, with no guns or a garden.
I think, Paul, that may depend upon the situation a bit. Money is a useful exchange commodity in a complex market. The more complex, the more useful and necessary.
If the market, aka society, breaks down completely, then direct barter may be more valuable than indirect exchange.
But I agree that in the long run, humans have consistently assigned value to PMs, and so by definition they have value in human transactions, and so the breakdown would have to be pretty severe indeed in order for you to not to be able to find someone who would be willing to take some off your hands in exchange for necessities such as food and water.
Stranded in the desert, a gallon of water would be worth more to you than a ton of gold. Of course. So the question becomes, if the society breaks down, how desperate will it get? I have a hard time seeing things deteriorate to the point where you would end up starving with a stash of useless PMs. I also have a hard time seeing myself being hit by lightning tomorrow. Could happen, though.