Will Gold be worthless in the future?

Remember the Twilight Zone episode?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734674/

 

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I don't know anything about hunting but wouldn't hunting bows and arrows be good barter items since you can kill some food (hopfully with a low rad count) without the remainder of the world hearing it? What about hunting arrow points for barter? They wouldn't take up much space.

 

IMHO - In a large scale collapse, hunting game animals for food would only be a viable option for a few months at best as a shift from domesticated meat to wild meat would not be sustainable given our population, or even a population +/- 20% that of our current size. Same thing is true to a greater extent with fresh water fishing since most fish in our lakes and streams today come from fish hatcheries. It just isn't possible to have 300+ million cave men in the US living off the land, or 7+ billion worldwide.

In the short term, bows and arrows could have some value for hunting game animals for food. In the medium term, for protection or hunting people for food, but in the long term, it would be all about sustainable food, i.e. agriculture. Once virtually all of the game animals and fresh water fish are consumed, the only viable source of food would be what is grown or raised.

Unless our population drops below 20% of its current size, it would only be possible to feed it through a return to some level of civilized society. i.e. Specialization of labor, agriculture, bartering, etc. In other words, we'd have to stop acting like cave men focused on survival and start working together once again.

If our population does drop below 20%, then the period of living like cave men could last longer, or even be sustainable, but I'd like to think common sense would prevail and people would eventually return to civilization.

This is of course an interesting subject to ponder, but I don't want anyone reading this thread to believe that us bullion stackers are hoping for such an event. There is a difference between being prepared for something and hoping for it to happen. Case in point: I also have life insurance, but that doesn't necessarily mean I can't wait for the opportunity to use it!

 

Thankyou for the reply Blaubart.

 

And, as few members seem to "get," stacking is nothing more than trying to preserve the purchasing power of paper dollars by converting them into precious metals while you still can. It's not for day trading or capital gains or anything complex.

If trouble starts, do you want paper dollars in the form of little electronic blips at a bank (!) or do you want gold and silver, in your physical possession??

Those are your ONLY choices for money. For things, like farmland, food, weapons, tools, winter clothing, water purification equipment, seeds, etc., there are many more choices. But things are not as flexible, that's why money was invented in the first place.

 

Good point. Advances in civilization allowed people to specialize and allowed for efficiencies. In the past you had to be a jack of all trades and probably couldn't advance much as you provided for day to day survival. Now you work a job for pay and can purchase all the items. Nature didn't plan on 7 billion cave people. Man just grew from his humble beginnings.

Prepare for a week or a month or even a year. If a collapse changes things forever then we are all in trouble. Sure...go ahead and buy your seeds and other tools but what are you going to do with them. There is probably less than 1% of the population that would have the know how, experience and more important land to be self-sufficient. I don't know about you but my suburban piece of land doesn't have "growing" soil plus I would take several growing seasons to figure out how to sustain a crop and in the mean time would need to eat. This assumes I don't die off from illness or step on a rusty nail 5 to 10 years after my last tetnus shot.

People should have 2 weeks of food and water PERIOD. You never know when a natural disaster will rock your area. Smart people should think months and not weeks in terms of prep. Smart people with the extra income and SPACE should challenge themselves for 1 year. After 1 year I just don't see the point. You have to really hope that civilization will right itself.

 

I like gold but really can not afford it now. I would rather buy cheap coins.

 

If gold becomes worthless there will be no market for pet food.

 

Which means no more Chinese take out. Things are going down hill fast.

 

Ever seen Mad Max? Who cares about gold after doomsday? ...it's fuel and clean water obviously LOL

 

But if it's a "barbarous relic" it should thrive in barbarous times.

 

I don't foresee anything near Doomsday in this rich country, whether the dollar collapses or not. I do see a significant reduction in most folks' standard of living, and probably some food riots and stuff like murders over gasoline. The middle class will get smashed for the second time in a decade. The government's own statistics suggest that the average middle class household has taken a 30% hit to its net worth since 2007, primarily from reduced home values. It will happen again.

In time, crime may actually decrease, as an armed citizenry deals with "problems" the police can't or won't. It's the eternally-privileged Millennials who will suffer the most; I will go back to not having the things I didn't have as a kid...

And if I were a Congressman or Senator, I'd catch the first plane OUT of the U.S. before someone tweets my home address and voting record...

 

Correct me if I'm wrong . I thought in the 18th and 19th (maybe longer ) centuries the Chinese valued silver more than gold , thus their love of the Spanish 8 reale and later their preference for the Trade dollar . I know in India Gold is valued the highest . Thanks , I'll wait for your response .

 

I wouldn't and I'm sure many others wouldn't as well. Not everyone is a sheep. Gold works great as money, that is why it ended up on top back in the day and is still doing well now. (All the above ground gold in the world is in worth about 7-8 trillion dollars)

 

CNBC expert predicting gold will fall to $700 near term. Time to stock up?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101838571

 

I have never heard that. Yes, the Chinese liked the 8 reales, due to their own coinage being underweight and extensively counterfeited. Chinese counterfeiting is not new at all, Hahn details the situation of the late 19th century pretty vividly. Later, the British, French, and later the Americans tried to get it on the profitable trade. However, the Chinese for the last few hundred years have been aware of the world price of both metals and acted accordingly. Even 2000 years ago Bactrian and Sogdian traders let the Chinese know the world price of the two metals. To the Chinese silver was the preferred metal for good sized transactions, and demanded all tariffs be paid in Persian silver, which was known for its full weight and purity. The emperor collected this good money but only issued bronze coins for their subjects to use. In fact, Persian silver circulated so extensively in China one could say it was the default silver coinage there.

 

I think most on CT wouldn't sir, but you cannot deny our culture's inherent disdain and lack of understanding of cultures foreign to us. Heck, look at thone in the US who make fun of some European cultures, and that is where most of our ancestors come from.

 

In John M. Willems book "The United States Trade Dollar" It pretty much stated that the Chinese wanted payment for all goods in silver with the 8 reale pretty much the favorite till the US Trade dollar came around in 1874 , then as the Chinese learned to trust the purity it surpassed the 8 reale in popularity in the Southern port cities . I pretty much assumed that they preferred silver over gold as that's what they wanted for all debts . It's a great read if you can get your hands on one and not very expensive like most out of print books .

 

For WestTexasBound - I saw this quote today, from a blogger named Fred Read:

"The rot [in America] goes beyond the academic. The whole epicene circus smells of weakness of character. Watching our prancing half-men and furry co-eds, I wonder what would happen to them if it rained hard. America today lives in an unconsciously precarious equilibrium.

Some two or three percent of the population grow food for an urbanized country that has never shot a rabbit, baited a hook, or existed other than in the world of McDonald's, dope, and latchkey afternoons. They seem never to have been in a schoolyard fight, never had to take care of themselves, defend themselves, or to understand that one day they might have to do it.

What if one day Mommy, or Mommy Washington, isn't around to take care of them? Any disruption -- riots, for example, that stopped the flow of food trucks into the cities -- would cause devastation. We have become soft, mentally vacuous, helpless, a civilization on the brink..."

 

Folks, I am 49% ready to move this thread to GD, and disappoint those who have subscribed to it as a bullion investing thread. If you want to continue in this direction, be courteous enough to start your own thread in GD after refreshing your memory of the rules. Thanks