Why Buying Bullion Is Not A Good Investment....

Unfortunately, in the long run we are ALL co dependent for our survival as a society. For ammo, you eventually need re supply, same for fuel, and unless you are currently living self supporting in a rural environment, for food as well.

There will always be a few remnant survivors, but with or without guns, the survivors will continue to live in a very precarious and dangerous environment.

It seems to me that those who live by violence will die by violence, and such lives will be totally wasted. That is total tragedy.

What happened to brotherly love? Why is it becoming harder and harder to find on a societal basis?

I strongly beg to differ....once things got past the first 48 hours and no one was showing up to "save them" people reverted to a true human response to self preservation....steal, loot, and shoot. If things were NOT local or regional and more national or global in scale you would just see Katrina on steroids. Empty bellies and fear of personal security do not muster up desires to obtain lumps of metal.

Katrina shows you what happens when a local government promises your something and doesn't deliver. It is not much different though than what has happened in history since the beginning of time.

The Black Plague struck and it broke done there very same fabric as Katrina. Governments stopped working the economy stopped and bands of bad guys killed or took what they wanted. What people were not sick were left to defend themselves, except this was a world wide event which to put it in perspective a Full United States Katrina.

No one said we would not go through this first step. But it was indeed a short amount of time. What happened next? Well the next spring planting was done and people started to out their economy and society in order.

So I ask you what do you want green backs or PM's? Do you think I would take your dollar in trade? You would be nuts and I certainly would not trade for ammo or guns at this time.

You see history is full of examples of the events after the great down fall. There are far more societies than I can count that have fallen or even disappeared. There have been just as many economies that have down the same.

Survival has depended on getting though the first stage which is very short then having what you need to function in a new economic system. Money had changed just as the weapons have but one thing has remained a constant - PM's were valued by all after the event.

So to think they are the last thing you want in any SHTF would IMHO be wrong. Certainly no one on either side has said a little food, or personal protection devices are not part of the plan.

When the SHTF, dollar bills or any paper money would be worthless to almost worthless I would think, (or super highly inflated, bottle of water for 50,000$?) just a guess. I believe that precious metals would have a higher chance of being useful in a SHTF situation, but honestly, in that situation, your best investment is CANNED FOOD.
-that being said, I dont believe that the **** is going to hit the fan any time soon, and that our green backs will remain pretty useful for years to come. my dollar will for the rest of my life allow me to purchase goods, and silver/gold will never allow me to do such (unless I exchange for money)
-that being said, why do I own silver/gold? because I feel like it is better than having the money sit in a bank for 20 years+, I love playing with it, and making silver forts, and its my money and I could do whatever I want with it. (sorry for sounding ignorant :) haha)

There were still governments in the black plaqgue. There werent electronics to steal back then either. But again peole were dieing but nothing eas effective. They didnt have any machines not work or any records lost or people all of a sudden have no money.

Plus you know what else is real good at keeping order, the fear of death is you get near anyone. You arent going to a loot an infected house youll stay holed up in your own.

So yes if a world wide disease breaks out the black plague is applicable, if we just lose power wont be anything like that.

I think one of the best books that describe a SHTF scenario is the book Alas Babylon, written by Pat Frank. It covers a family who live in a small town after a nuclear Holocaust. It shows the different skills that the towns people have that make it easier to survive.

Does anyone else have any good novels that cover this scenario?

Some of the doomsday ideas presented here sound good but you guys are getting a bit carried away. We are talking about changing some dollar bills into gold or silver coins and bars or not. Nothing more.

To those here that cite Katrina please explain how dollar bills are more useful than silver and gold in these situations. In a worldwide Katrina at least the gold and silver will have value in the years following the recovery. The paper bills may have no value.

There not, neither are useful if everyone is left on their own like that. If its a regional disaster like that dollars are more useful since they would have been in the bank and not washed away in the storm. If its national and moneys gone then supplies are the most useful which you could buy a lot more with dollars now than you could with that same amount of gold or silver after its happened.