Longest A Paper Currency Has Lasted?

Politicians do not want any currency backed by a commodity as it ties their hands. They want the ability to print at will. IF there was a revaluation of the dollar, what is to prevent that new dollar from losing value as well? Other nations that revalued also watched their new currency devalue over time.
I agree that you need other items besides PM's as a back up right now. Food is going up far faster than PM's right now. None of us knows what the future holds but by studying history you have an idea of which way things could go and be able to prepare. Gold and silver are only one piece of the puzzle.

Perhaps not - but you certainly haven't lost everything, which is what would have happened to somebody who hung onto their old dollars. That's the whole point of the "store of value" and "hedge against inflation" discussions around PMs: not to get rich, but to keep from going broke.

There are many sad stories that come out of hyperinflationary periods, such as Germany. Like the little old lady who went down to the bank to withdraw her life savings, 600,000 marks. They gave her a million mark note - it was the smallest denomination they had. But the key thing to note is that most of those hundred-odd currencies that were victims of hyperinflation had radically different circumstances to those faced by America today. Most hyperinflation is as a direct result of a country fighting (and usually losing) a costly and unavoidable war. Some examples:

- Confederate States, 1864 - losing a war.
- Germany 1923 - lost a war.
- Greece 1944 - invaded by Nazi Germany, then erupted into civil war once the Nazis were kicked out.
- Japanese-occupied Philippines 1945 - losing a war.
- Hungary 1946 - lost a war.
- China 1948 - losing a civil war.
- Argentina 1980s - a corrupt military dictatorship which also eventually lost a war. This was more a case of hyperinflation causing a war, rather than the other way around.
- Russia and other ex-Communist countries, 1991 - economic collapse caused by sudden release of communist controls that had held inflation in check for decades. Warfare played a role here too, as feuds long kept in check by Soviet military might erupted into ethnic violence.
- Zimbabwe 2008 - a corrupt paranoid kleptocracy whose frankly bizarre policies systematically destroyed their own economy.

Most examples of inflation where there is no obvious military-related cause have been as a result of corruption or ineptitude on the part of the government.

A dramatic statement, greenprint. I'll not argue winning or losing (this isn't the forum), but to lay the USA's fiscal troubles solely on the War on Terror is not only wrong, it betrays a serious lack of understanding of how 21st century Washington conducts it's increasingly populist brand of politics.

The financial obligations incurred for the ongoing War, the housing crisis of 2008, TARP, and countless other unfunded or underfunded programs and entitlements created in recent years may have accelerated our exploding yearly deficits and dramatically expanded our national debt. But the reality is that the mindset that allows our politicians today to fabricate politically popular and nominally necessary programs and entitlement without requiring a politically unpopular cut in spending OR an increase in taxes has been gaining steam for years. The only difference today from the past is that our new deficit and debt levels are just too unbelievably and terrifyingly large for the MSM or the public to ignore any longer.

No, greenprint. You can't blame our financial mess on the War, and certainly not any group of cowardly terrorists. Our financial mess is homegrown and self-inflicted. And our politicians on both sides of the aisle must take the blame.

Wow. We really do have a very smart group of people here, I learn so much about world views when reading these forums

Money for land-inflation, they have that it's called a high-rise condominium! You get a tiny parcel of space for an inflated price and you don't even own the land. Yay!

Did everyone forget 1963 and 1971? Vietnam! Hello! We need funding for a war that goes in circles and we know we cannot win. How do you fight communism with invasion - heck knows. J. F. Kennedy doesn't enter into France's Asian affairs, but a year after his assassination the currency gets debased and shortly after the U.S.-Vietnam war is in full gear. What a crock.

Your statement doesn't make sense, greenprint. The US had silver coinage and was still on a gold standard all through JFK's presidency. Most silver coinage didn't go away until after 1964 and international convertibility of the US dollar into gold existed until 1971.

That would be a NO.

Honestly. How do you guys have so much knowledge. This is like a history class