Trading Silver/Gold In A Broken Economy

[dverna]

Rancher is spot on about having a "clan" or tribe. I call it a MAG (Mutual Aid Group). And you need a skill or asset that enhances the survival of the group. All of us here have that skill. We can cast bullets and reload ammunition. But that takes some thought and planning.

Being able to cast and load for the .38/55, .32 WCF etc, is far less desirable than .308/.30-30. Pistol .44 Mag or .460 Mag is not as useful and 9mm or .45. I have stuff to load calibers I do not own because people in my MAG have .270's, .30/06's etc. Not difficult or expensive to be equipped to do so. I buy stuff when I see a "good deal". Something useful to add is loading 20 and 12 ga. I keep wads, 20 bags of bird shot and molds to cast buckshot and slugs.

Build (or add on to) your arsenal with calibers likely to be scrounged or "liberated". The .223 is not highly thought of, but you are not going to find a lot of .277 Fury's or .300 BO's on dead bodies. Same for pistols...9mm will be everywhere compared to .357 Mag.

A MAG without a doctor, nurse or veterinarian has much less chance of making it as well.

Just stuff to ponder.

[Reg]

To be successful with seeds, gardening or anything like that takes planing and a certain amount of effort. Care and storing of seeds is important but proper selection to begin with is even more so. Variety to begin with, you want everything to be the heirloom variety but more important you want the variety’s that are proven performers for your area. What does well in one area may not do well in others and you also want several of these proven to your area as one that does well one year may not do well the next. Storage is another consideration.
If a person wants to be successful doing this then it’s time for some serious reading and studying. There are good groups and blogs out there and once you get involved you will be surprised how helpful they will be. Do your homework!

[hoodat]

Most folks who grow a garden these days are more of a hobby farmer than anything. They spend way more than a hundred bucks to grow a hundred bucks worth of vegetables. They would have to seriously "up their game" to make it worth the time and money spent. And food prep, canning, drying, long term storage simply has to be part of the game. jd

[MaryB]

Rancher is spot on about having a "clan" or tribe. I call it a MAG (Mutual Aid Group). And you need a skill or asset that enhances the survival of the group. All of us here have that skill. We can cast bullets and reload ammunition. But that takes some thought and planning.

Being able to cast and load for the .38/55, .32 WCF etc, is far less desirable than .308/.30-30. Pistol .44 Mag or .460 Mag is not as useful and 9mm or .45. I have stuff to load calibers I do not own because people in my MAG have .270's, .30/06's etc. Not difficult or expensive to be equipped to do so. I buy stuff when I see a "good deal". Something useful to add is loading 20 and 12 ga. I keep wads, 20 bags of bird shot and molds to cast buckshot and slugs.

Build (or add on to) your arsenal with calibers likely to be scrounged or "liberated". The .223 is not highly thought of, but you are not going to find a lot of .277 Fury's or .300 BO's on dead bodies. Same for pistols...9mm will be everywhere compared to .357 Mag.

A MAG without a doctor, nurse or veterinarian has much less chance of making it as well.

Just stuff to ponder.

My small town is my group, and we are loosely grouped with 3 other small towns to help protect the farms in the middle for a share of the crops/livestock. Only 2 farmers said no they will go it alone and they are on an edge... they wouldn't last long...we have radio gear stored in EMP roof containers, plenty of 4 wheelers to patrol our sections with, and I have wireless long range cameras(not an off the shelf solution, IP cameras to a mesh network that would be solar powered) I can deploy to also help(pretty flat ground so 3-5 mile viz is the norm and all can zoom)... yes I am the local tech nerd/radio person

[rancher1913]

we are lucky with radios, local small internet provider has a repeater radio set up that once you are accepted into the group you can use as needed, think commercial motorola type set up. i can key my mike and talk to a buddy 100 miles away legally.

[elmacgyver0]

Most folks who grow a garden these days are more of a hobby farmer than anything. They spend way more than a hundred bucks to grow a hundred bucks worth of vegetables. They would have to seriously "up their game" to make it worth the time and money spent. And food prep, canning, drying, long term storage simply has to be part of the game. jd

That's kind of funny, I like to grow tomatoes, I don't even like tomatoes, my wife does though and I do like BLTs.
I like to grow peppers too.
I also grew some cucumbers, don't like those either, they are good made into pickles.

[elmacgyver0]

I have never been much on talking on radios.
My nephew who lives in Texas sent me a Kenwood TS-930S transceiver, but I have not done much with it yet.
I think part of it is being shy and lousy hearing.

[Ed K]

And I have silver I collected from 1964 on... back then a lot of it showed up in change and I put it all in buckets, still have it

Once sorted several tons of dimes for silver. It was a fun project!

[MrWolf]

That would be to hard out here. Not many homes per mile till you get closer to the local towns. One 5 mins away are mostly druggie, etc from what I hear and the other town is about 15 minutes away.

[Gray Fox]

It is easy to forget that during the depression and WWII that many more people than now lived in rural areas and growing food and preserving it was common knowledge and family and friends would get together to can the various veggies, berries and fruits as they ripened. All those folks had a few or lots more chickens. At the same time, many times the above numbers were in-laws and outlaws who lived within 50 or so miles who came to help gather crops and can them, or like many of mine just showed up expecting to take fresh stuff home and were upset when it wasn't already picked for them. Some things never change. The point is, what is the demographic situation now? Many folks like me live in the suburbs and barely have enough land to be a hobby farmer. The last couple of years has proven that to grow anything and pay for enough fencing to keep the deer, squirrels and rabbits out costs way more than is remotely sane. The same money can buy a lot of prepared, storable food now. One year I tried growing in the three sisters mode with corn, beans and squash. The deer, raccoons and crows really laughed. I got not one ear of corn and cucumber worms destroyed every squash. I did get a couple pounds of dried beans.
Bottom line, when SHTF, most of us are only good for as long as our stocks last, and that's assuming our OPSEC has been good enough to allow us to hold on to it. GF

[35 Rem]

Never bothered with precious metals, because the one's selling it were accepting fiat currency as payment.
Then there's the fact that the government can outlaw them like years past.
Finally, even though plenty of people on the titanic could swim, it didn't matter.
My best advice to anyone is to live your life.
Prepare for the minor bumps and inconveniences.
Big picture stuff you most likely won't survive anyways..................

That's always struck me as an obvious indicator that it's not necessarily the best choice. If these precious metals were such a guaranteed way to come out of financial disasters wealthy, why would the people who have them be willing to sell them for this old worthless paper money we now have?

Also these coins they always advertise have no established value. When you go to trade them for something during a disaster how are you going to agree on their value? And as has already been stated, what if the thing you want to trade your silver for is worth way less than what you paid for a coin? And another issue that seems obvious to me is that flashing precious metal coins around as payment is going to be talked about. Do it enough and you could find yourself getting cracked on the head and robbed or worse.

[Thundarstick]

If you have things, you've made yourself a target, if you have skills you've made yourself a commodity! I've often read, that people who've survived a real life government collapse, claim that cigarettes and booze are the real investments to have!

I could tell you the jewelry story from Germany at the end of WW2, but I'll just say that a whole lot of material wealth don't go far when your behind the 8 ball.

[Lloyd Smale]

ever wonder why if its so much better then money that 5 times a day i see commercials on tv with people wanting to take my dollars for their gold and silver. if gold is always going up and the dollar is going down why dont they keep it and get richer???

[dverna]

My small town is my group, and we are loosely grouped with 3 other small towns to help protect the farms in the middle for a share of the crops/livestock. Only 2 farmers said no they will go it alone and they are on an edge... they wouldn't last long...we have radio gear stored in EMP roof containers, plenty of 4 wheelers to patrol our sections with, and I have wireless long range cameras(not an off the shelf solution, IP cameras to a mesh network that would be solar powered) I can deploy to also help(pretty flat ground so 3-5 mile viz is the norm and all can zoom)... yes I am the local tech nerd/radio person

A well thought out plan. I was surprised that two farmers decided to go it alone. I thought farmers were smart people...those two are not.

You are correct. Unless your group accepts them after an "event", they will not last long. It is something to think about before it happens. It is a question for every "tribe" to deal with. "Who gets accepted into the MAG and why?" Before an event, that is easier to sort out. Afterwards, it gets dicey. For me, it will boil down to "What do they bring to the party". But there will different opinions. A family with six little kids, who offers nothing of value, with no chance of survivng, is difficult for most people to exclude. A respected leader is important.

A MAG is not a democracy. The leader should be established before things go south.

[rancher1913]

ever wonder why if its so much better then money that 5 times a day i see commercials on tv with people wanting to take my dollars for their gold and silver. if gold is always going up and the dollar is going down why dont they keep it and get richer???

check the fine print on those ads, its all "plated" gold or silver, and the ads are all scams. there will always be fraudsters trying to scam you, doesnt mean pm's are worthless. look back at the wiemer republic and envision how many of those people wish they had some pm's instead of the worthless paper money that took wheel barrows of to buy a loaf of bread.

[1Papalote]

My issue with gold/silver is that we are using paper money to buy g/s which is the insurance against paper money. Sounds like a trick to me . Plus....as an investment, they get 3-10% each time it is bought or sold. My profit would come from increase in value over and above the commission. I'll stick with commodities and ability. A box of ammo could be worth more to those in need. I figure the wealthiest sheisters will be collecting the g/s thru lopsided trading or dubious means.

[Kosh75287]

Never mind.

[reddog81]

not true, i would have sold primers for gold, but not money. i knew several people that had primers and they would not sell for money but would trade.

This mindset makes no sense unless you live somewhere where there is rampant inflation and the value of the currency is in constant flux. And by rampant inflation I mean like 50 to 100% or more. Every business where I live takes USD. The whole point of currency is to use it as a trade medium. Trading primers for money is like trading primers for gold or beer or firewood. I can go to any store that sells gold or beer or firewood and they take USD. People who dispose of stuff and limit offers to trades don't understand that trading money for items is trading.

[rancher1913]

i have no problem taking gold or silver for any of my commodities, right now its more or less same as cash. all one needs to do is study history to understand. when the time comes that you need pm's it will be to late to acquire any unless you have something of extreme value that someone who has gold wants.

the three b's come first but after that if you want to be able to get ahead financially you will need something of value to trade, doesn't have to be pm's

[Lloyd Smale]

check the fine print on those ads, its all "plated" gold or silver, and the ads are all scams. there will always be fraudsters trying to scam you, doesnt mean pm's are worthless. look back at the wiemer republic and envision how many of those people wish they had some pm's instead of the worthless paper money that took wheel barrows of to buy a loaf of bread.

yes there are some of them but also others selling the real thing