If certain people didn't have the bullion section to beat up, they would be after the Ancients or anyone with a cat as an avatar. No one is forced by farce to post in any section. Resist the pull.
You opened a can of worms as well as decided to use a term widely embraced as an insult by those with certain political leanings before immediately doubling down with another insult with the "damaged" label. Why not just call such people "deplorable" and own it for once, or better yet just hold yourself to the same standard you so often demand of others? If your post was indeed innocent, there are politically neutral terms you could have used. It's only right and fair that authority is held to at least the same (or preferably an even higher) standard demanded of we peasants. If it's wrong for us it is by all rights wrong for you as well. Although much better than it once was, I'll never understand why you refuse to simply rise above it. Other mods can, so why not you? If I may remind you.... "When YOU start a political aspect on a scientific discussion, that violates the rules. May I remind every one that Peter;s alternate site WWW.PARTISANLINES.COM was set up especially so discussions on politics, religion, and world events are not to be on this site."
Without getting TOO into the weeds with Books here, there are such things as "dogwhistle" terms for both the right and the left, and neither side seems able to convince the other they exist. Jim, I'd politely suggest "science deniers" is one such. In MY opinion, and likely Books' if I'm reading him correctly, sentence #1 in post #2 is dripping with politics, once you understand the dogwhistle. But I'm going to guess you're as unaware of that as those on the right are of their "micro-aggressions". Think of "science denier" as a micro-aggression, if it helps crystallize the concept.
I thought 'science deniers' was the term we use for bullion stackers. Now I'm confused.... just tell me who to hate and what names to hurl at them.
Regarding the original question, and I am probably repackaging what some people have already said a bit here... Stackers have the exact same mentality as the coin collector who would passionately defend coins as a solid "investment". Both of those mentalities ride on the assumption that this niche strategy is somehow superior (more profitable or less risky) than alternative investments. The evidence indicates that both of these are wrong. The difference is that while virtually all "stackers" have this mentality (and I'm not lumping in people who invest some of their assets in precious metals), people who collect coins have more diverse reasons for doing so. I would assume that most coin collectors recognize that they are doing it more so for themselves than as a way to make profit. All that to say, the reason a stacker or person primarily interested in bullion investment would criticize coin grading/holdering is because they see all the value as being contained in the metal (i.e. the silver or gold), not in the numismatic premium that the coin collector values. To them, a holder is something that often increases the price of a coin by signalling a high level of quality (or at least greater certainty) to coin buyers, resulting in a worse value proposition for the metal buyers who now have to pay more for the same amount of metal, given that they're going to be competing more with the coin lovers.
I *think* the idea behind bullion stacking is that in the event of catastrophic economic collapse the bullion would have value whereas your stocks, bank accounts, and 401K would be worthless. I would say that stacking silver would be less risky than any other investment (besides land ownership). The problem is that the less risky an investment, generally speaking, the less chance there is for profit. That all said, if you're prepping for economic collapse your best investment would be a shotgun and canned beans.
I agree with your interpretation, BUT if you owned the cans of beans why sell for a metal that has no use in the near future? The value of the metal in that case would certainly be bargained down to face at most as bean owners can not replenish by Amazon prime , and stash owners can't live without food. The cities will march to the outlying areas looking for food or fuel.