Return To Gold Standard?

On the other hand, one would have to question the wisdom of trading deadly weapons or ammo for them to someone you don't know in a SHTF situation. Trading some coins does not have the same potential for disaster.

Of course, there are LOTS of things that would make great barter items during an economic collapse. Among these are: medical supplies, jeans, socks, hand tools of just about any kind, needles and thread, fish hooks and line, coffee, most tobacco products, drinkable ethanol, matches, etc. Problem is, who wants to store a lifetime supply of these things. Some would be good, of course, but holding silver or gold coins or bars would be useful too. They have been money for thousands of years, through some very bad times, and will likely continue to be recognized as items of value. If not, then melt them down into bullets.



That sounds like my uncle Clyde. He hunted elk in Colorado for 50 years and only 1 time did he ever fire more than 1 round from his trusty Springfield. He'd shot an elk and was tracking it when he sighted it again. Just as he fired his 2nd shot, the animal collapsed. I don't know whether he was a great shot with a rifle because of his WW I army training or because he was so cheap that he hated to waste ammo.



Yes, it is and it was also the dominate way of doing business here in the US during the Great Depression. Money was scarce back then and people still needed to exchange labor and goods, so barter was about their only way of doing that with no money around to speak of.



Yes, they can be looked at that way but they can also be looked at as MONEY, which they have been for thousands of years. Paper money is a relatively recent invention compared to gold and silver money.



Indeed it is and it is likely that this is what will be the undoing of fiat paper money. All business is essentially barter, the trading of one thing for something else: your time and expertise for my paper check that you can cash and spend, for example. To make this work, both parties have to consider the trade of equal value. If we get into a severe inflationary time, then the value of money will decline and perhaps quite rapidly. REAL things will become much more valuable than unbacked rapidly inflating paper money. Remember those news stories from some of the South American countries where the wives would come and collect their husband's pay-check the minute he received it so they could spend it before it was worth less than it was an hour before that? If not, a lot of us do and that is not a very pretty picture. Could that happen here? I would say that the odds are against it but also that it is not impossible. Any monetary system can be mismanaged into oblivion and the folks in charge of the US monetary system are making a LOT of very poor choices right now.



That they did, Hawk, and talks of that type are likely continuing. The US is causing some serious problems in the world economy. We are exporting a lot of our inflation to the creditor countries and they are not liking it. Can't say that I blame them a bit. I would not want to be treated that way either.



That they are but they have every right to address problems that are in their national best interest, just as we do... and don't think for a minute that ALL countries don't have secrets.



Indeed not. The best and most recent example of this is the USSR. They had immense military power but did not have the economic strength to support it. They put politics above everything else, including economics. Eventually, their over-spending was their undoing. Will we do the same or have we learned anything from their demise as a nation?

The bright spot for the Russians is that their country is immensely rich is highly desirable raw materials. They have huge deposits of gold, platinum, titanium, chromium, oil, and gas, not to mention vast forests of marketable timber and even some diamonds. This is what has saved the Russian people from a terrible economic fate once the USSR collapsed in 1989.



That is the lesson of history and I am sure that those in charge are well aware of it. They don't want that to happen because it would pose a serious threat not only to their rule but also to their very lives... ala the French and Russian revolutions.

Quote:
"Yes, it is and it was also the dominate way of doing business here in the US during the Great Depression. Money was scarce back then and people still needed to exchange labor and goods, so barter was about their only way of doing that with no money around to speak of."

That is why I just don't see silver and gold coins being used as money in the event of an economic crash. If I had good or services to sell, would I rather have another good or service I need to survive or a shiny piece of metal? Until the basics of life are covered, most people will go for real and tangible items that they need rather than metal that has no inherent value. Precious metals have the same problem as fiat money in that they only have value if people believe them to be valuable.

I'm on this section of the forum because I think there is money to be made in precious metals. We'll have to agree to disagree on the their value after the apocalypse.

Nothing bulky about it. A million brass bucks takes up less space than a million wrinkled notes.

A million brass bucks weighs about 8 times as much as paper. Silver at $31 spot is a wash, gold is far lighter.