Help me explain to my wife, how we will convert our silver into food, fuel, and other necessities in a time when our dollar may collapse or other circumstances prevent commerce such as we are accustomed to.
Say for instance I've got silver, but I need gas.
Our silver is primarily 1 oz rounds that have been purchased for twenty to thirty bucks apiece. Will I ever see a time when they could be used as a liquid asset?? jd
It seems that people who do almost nothing, often complain loudly when it's time to do it.
If the economy collapses, then most likely you won't have to worry about using silver or gold to buy things like gas, because the companies that deliver will also be out of business and the only thing you will have to live on is whatever you can grow or hunt where you are.
Hick: Iron sights!
im sure no expert but you and me and everyone else needs and wants commerce to keep going smoothly. but you and me and everyone like us only control a minority share of the money supply. over time the economy goes up and down just like the value of gold and silver and the stock market. even in depression the economy went way down but came back up. if you take just the richest 1000 people in the United States they control more money than all the rest of us put together. let this sink in a little bit. 1000 people out of 332 MILLION people. and those 1000 people have more than everyone else put together. and this probably includes all the billions in cash that the drug cartels smuggle out of the states. they are in control and I think they want commerce to keep running smoothly so they can fatten their balance sheets on a continuing basis. everyone is trading in dollars and the people who make money off of buying and selling silver and gold are the ones who promote fear that the economy will be some how disintergrate and the dollar will somehow become worthless. precious metals do hold great value but it costs individuals like us to both buy and sell to and from dollars that we can buy goods with freely.
maybe I'm all wrong about all this but its just the way I see things
Last edited by farmbif; 10-21-2023 at 09:36 PM.
To help explain.
Paper money's value is backed by the government assets. If the economy collapses,, paper money (and that plastic card crap,) will be totally worthless. It'll be so de-valued to where toilet paper will be worth more.
Tangible items for trade & barter,, like gold, silver, booze, ammo, guns, etc has always allowed the peons of any country to be able to trade among themselves.
Another way to look at it;
Let's say you are a farmer,, you have crops. You have a tangible item to use AND a surplus to trade/sell. But to be able to do so,, you'll want something tangible in return. You might need gas for your tractor. And another person has excess gas,, but wants silver for the gas. Silver can be used to buy gas, which can be used to buy gas to allow 3 people to get something they want or need to survive.
I have a good friend, (actually a brother from another mother,) who was working in Greece several years ago,, when their economy crashed. He sent me some Greek paper money,, because he knew I liked that kind of stuff,,, but it's worthless.
So basically, silver is a tangible item, that can be used to trade & barter for other items if the economy crashes.
332 Billion! No wonder it's getting crowded around here!
hoodat, yours is an interesting question, and a hard one to answer. As stated above, there may not be any gasoline to buy. But, if there is, you have to pay for it somehow. Could be by barter for some chickens, or a unneeded coat, but the idea of money has always been that it's portable and if it has a recognized value it can be exchanged for something else that the fellow who had the gasoline wants. Chickens die or are eaten, and the coat can be worn out, lost, or stolen, but the gold and/or silver remains what it is. Since the metals are corrosion resistant they have many uses other than just as money.
If the economy does collapse the money currently in use, made of paper and coins of lesser value metal, will be worthless. Good for just about nothing at all. But gold/silver has been held to hold value for thousands of years, and even if you can't buy that gasoline today you will likely be able to buy some tomorrow or a few days down the road if there is any. Someone will trade for some of your silver because they will know someone who has something that they want that will accept the silver. The Ancients had to esteem it highly to want to be buried with it. Perhaps it is a recognized medium of exchange across the River Styx.
Other things will have value not fully appreciated now, such as canned goods, clothing, good hand tools, etc., all good for trading. Oh, yes...toilet paper! Guns, ammo, reloading components are good. Butane lighters, matches...so many things. But none of them are as easy to cart around and exchange as gold and silver. And, if one believes that someday pigs may grow wings and fly, if the projected evils don't fall upon us you will probably be able to cash it in at a later date at a profit.
DG
I tend to think of gold and silver as commodities that will be used once everything is almost back in order. Before that folks will be needing the necessities. I can't see folks who are struggling willing to take gold or silver. Just my opinion but it think supplies, food, fuel, etc will be the items in demand.
local co-op takes silver for payment... I do have a credit account there though. So I use my gas card to fill up, can pay in silver if I want.
in a SHTF scenario You need chicken but only have 4 silver quarters($5 bills!) to trade. Guy with chicken won't take silver but the guy with chicken feed will so you trade for feed then trade feed for the chicken... a barter system will spring up with silver and gold filling the cracks where you can't do a direct trade.
thats really interesting your local coop takes silver and I assume they give you current market value by ounce for it? thats really neat.
It is a store of value. Let’s say you had $100K in the bank and you wake up tomorrow with the economy gone bust. Sure, you could use some chicken or gas today. But beyond immediate needs assume you could roll back the clock one day. Would you have withdrawn your funds and on the way home purchased 50,000 pounds of chicken or would you rather have 5,000 silver pieces?
I'd wager that most of us who have any degree of wealth saved up (no matter how much that is) currently have it invested in various stocks, bonds, mutual funds -- some sitting in banks in low interest accounts, or higher interest CDs -- and on that day when the economy goes bust, we won't be very happy.
Call up your broker, and tell him you want your money... oh yeah, he's not gonna answer. Remember when covid happened and you couldn't get in the bank?? How did that feel?
We might soon hear on the news, that for our own good, the guvmint has discontinued the nearly worthless dollar and replaced it with brand new units of wealth that will be assigned a yet to be determined trade value. And HALLELUJAH!!! -- half the people in the country will now have more money than they had before. Oh, and by the way gold and silver, will now be illegal to own or trade, and we will have a period of time to exchange it for more units of the new sanctioned wealth.
jd
It seems that people who do almost nothing, often complain loudly when it's time to do it.
What many folks forget is that very few of us now live in a rural or semi-rural area where there is anything to barter for. And, if you are fortunate enough to live there, do you have at least two very capable and trustworthy armed associates who can try to make sure you don't get ripped off or killed as you attempt to exchange your coinage for something you need. Also, the above scenario isn't going just sprout quickly like a spring dandelion. It will take time for a barter economy to come into being and you may not make it that long unless you are stocked up now with necessities and have the above-mentioned trusted friends who are in the same situation.
For the rest of us, well, we're probably just about out of luck unless we can subsist on dandelions 8 months of the year once our preps are eaten--hopefully by ourselves. As a 90-year-young lady told me recently, the older we get the more we see we need to pray, in supplication and in thanks. Gray Fox
As mentioned in post #3, very few people have access to precious metals at market value. If you have gold and silver and the economy doesn’t fall off a cliff you won’t be able to recoup your investment until the market prices exceed your purchase prices.
As others have pointed out, in a collapse scenario basic necessities will be in higher demand than precious metals. An ounce of silver costs as much as a t-bone steak today, after a collapse prices won’t be based on what something costs to grow or make.
Let me try to retell 1792...
1792 we didn't have much, but by God, we could grow corn.
We could eat it, barnyard pets could eat it, but the wife wanted more stuff. Wives being what they were, America went out back, made whisky. I blame women for indoor plumbing, too. Anyway, whiskey was portable, the henpecked husband could swap whiskey for anything on earth that she wanted. Whiskey is better than money, you can't drink gold, but you can sell whiskey for gold. Our brand new Federal gov't wanted to have banks currency oligarchs tolls and taxes, so George Washington taxed whiskey, then settled the Whiskey Rebellion more or less.
Nowadays, most places, you can own a still. You just can't sell untaxed whiskey.
Beer is good stinky fun to make, my mother made 20 proof ginger beer.
You need some clean blue barrels, fire, water, real glass deposit bottles, a recipe
and the hoarders will bring you their gold.
Come the revolution it won't be safe to drink the unchlorinated city water.
We have forgotten about typhoid, Abe Lincoln's son Willy died of that.
Maybe don't bother with whiskey, if you have a spring, sell water.
There will be no gasoline, diesel, propane, electricity, it's not something I want to live to see.
My dad taught me "Everybody needs a schtick". What can you do that is useful.
Last edited by .429&H110; 10-22-2023 at 10:43 AM. Reason: wrong water borne disease
I didn't see this mentioned here but remember that the ingots/rounds of silver you buy for $20--$30 each may now have the purchasing power of, for example, $200 each. (if SHTF)
Rich or poor, it's good to have money.
My dad taught me "Everybody needs a schtick". What can you do that is useful.
What does this phrase mean?
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly-and Lo! the bird is on the wing
i agree. if shtf food would be hard to find and nobody will be foolish enough to take paper or shinny bobbles for their beans and rice. might be a few wealthy people ahead of the game that stock piled food just to swap it for gold but nobody near me has that kind of money. but if i have 20 bags of beans and dont know when or if im ever getting more your not getting one for 5 lbs of gold. now like mrwolf said if you have some and realize for the short term its useless but are counting on things comming back then you will probably make out great. medical supplies, food, water and guns and ammo will be the most valuable things and maybe even whisky. gold. the most valuable gold color stuff will be 22lr, 556, 3030, 270, 308 and 06 ammo. i guess you can roll the dice hoping youll make out with rocks or you can buy food and ammo that are sure bets. it hasnt even come yet and my powder and primers are worth twice what they were 5 years ago and thats being conservative.Originally Posted by MrWolf
Last edited by Lloyd Smale; 10-22-2023 at 05:35 AM.
Interesting conversation. You can go back in history ( the Depression in the USA and government collapses elsewhere) to see exactly what will happen. Useful items, food ,medicine,etc., will be the most valuable items. People living in the cities will be in the most trouble, where country folks will probably at least be able to feed themselves. I remember when I worked doing farm inspections hearing stories about how many of the relatives, especially children were sent from the city to the farm where they had work and food.
PMs are a store of value, they enable a reasonably lossless transition from one currency to another, be that US dollars to Mexican pesos or US dollars to US dollars 2.0.
Some hoarders expect to be buying bread with silver, but I think that’s the least likely scenario. In such a collapse you’ll find that having a marketable skill or a critical commodity will be at least as important as what you have stored.
I wouldn’t buy PMs unless you have spare cash, and even then it wouldn’t be my first investment. Most of the time I’d rather have equities or bonds paying me a return than a stack of silver that does nothing.
the notion that their will be no oil or gas is a joke, people have gotten used to its benefit and will find a way. not to long ago production men would run their trucks on condensate gas straight from the well. you may not find the highly processed fuels of today but a farmer will be able to get diesel, even a piss pore grade of diesel will run in older tractors. every tractor i have can run on vegetable oil if needed so farmers will farm and the people in the city will need a way to pay for their food. historically gold and silver have been money for centuries, they will be again because everything old is new again and history repeats itself.
if you are ever being chased by a taxidermist, don't play dead
A 1 oz round silver eagle might be worth $25 now but if the economy collapses, it will be worth a loaf of bread. Maybe. And if another day goes by, it might be worth a couple of slices of bread. A collapsed economy brings uncertainty, particularly, uncertainty about availability.
It's that uncertainty that brings about chaos. Everyone will be thinking about how they're going to put their next meal on the table, not so much about getting to a job somewhere to get a few paper dollars that aren't worth anything.
At the moment, when times are still good, we can be sure that the paper dollars will provide for us so we need to store some things which will be LIKELY to be valuable to us, to feed and water ourselves, and carry off our waste products. That will give us some certainty in some minor ways. Guns and ammo will give additional certainty about our personal and family security. Isolation in a remote, non-urban area will help with that, too.
--Wag--
"Great genius will always encounter fierce opposition from mediocre minds." --Albert Einstein.
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