h/t WRSA
Today, CA gave you this:
The reality is far worse:
What's in your wallet? Finely-engraved toilet paper, in most cases.
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"I like a good story, well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself." - Mark Twain
h/t WRSA
Today, CA gave you this:
The reality is far worse:
What's in your wallet? Finely-engraved toilet paper, in most cases.
15 comments:
The transaction paper maybe in the wallet but at least its not digits on the FTX exchange. :) My hold card is the stash of Ag and energized Pb properly positioned on the homestead.
VG
BZ
CA
And neither one has any precious metal in their makeup, haven't for decades. It might be that nickels are still made of nickel, but I doubt it; the new ones look too shiny.
Every fiat currency fails; ours is going from "worth less" to "worthless" at a rapid pace.
Got gold?
Got silver?
Got brass, copper and lead?
Got tribe?
Boat Guy
Save the price of an ounce of gold, and save the equivalent in federal reserve notes. See which is worth more in 10 years . . .
Or replace the ounce of gold for a good well and hand pump vs the 1800 (roughly) us Fiat dollars to buy that ounce. Buy or learn how to make replacement leathers for that pump.
In the rule of threes where is precious metals?
"Money" is an exchange unit of my labor in the OR to buy stuff from folks I need.
I'm currently paid in US Dollars, at one time in Saudi I was paid in grams of .999 but I had to exchange them for "Real money" to pay my taxes.
While I own Au and Ag until I can pay my taxes or buy groceries from Walmart with it, it's not money, it's a STORE of value.
If you and I are both armed (so eliminate the "I'll just rob you" scenario) AND you have a ounce of gold and I have a days' worth of dry rice and beans for trade.
Do you expect I'll give you "Change"?
Grid down, gasoline for generator low or gone, what's the "Value" of a decent solar array vs that ounce or two of gold? A small fridge to keep food fresh longer a value? I think so, given I am a gentleman farmer who knows how much WORK and Time is involved in growing calories.
Ukraine is the last-ditch fight to prevent the China-Russia BRICS from dethroning the Petrodollar. Once the US Petrodollar is gone so is the vast majority of the "Value" of "Full Trust and such" of the US Government Dollars.
Got a good garden, seeds and dirt time skills in gardening?
If it wasn’t finely engraved toilet paper, it’d be coins with cheap metals substituted for precious ones. There is no foolproof way to stop counterfeiting by the government.
Ann Barnhardt’s “We are the Gold” presentation (still available on YouTube) only becomes more relevant with time…
No nickel in nickels, everything is plated zinc today.
Sadly on point. Thanks for the reminder.
"what's the "Value" of [any physical thing] vs that ounce or two of gold?"
-- the implication seems to be that gold has little value compared to things like a well pump, or a solar array, or a garden. That's a bit short sighted and ignores one of the major lessons of history. Ask yourself "what's the "value" of a well pump when the aquifer drops 100 feet lower than your hole? What's the "value" of your garden when the gang from down the street "taxes" you and stomps it into mud? What's the "value" of your land when the invading army (whatever form that takes) comes raping and pillaging thru your area?
-- gold is a compact and portable store of value. Grab you sh!t and GTFO in the middle of the night, or with parting shots as you outrun the horde, whatever your preference.
--history tells us that it's VERY easy to become a refugee. Very easy to become a 'displaced person'. Very easy to need to leave in a hurry. Very easy to need to start over, elsewhere, with only what you can carry.
Gold is there to get you through the current trouble. Gold is there to get you away from the current trouble. Gold is there to preserve as much of the value of your stored up work/life as possible, independent of whatever trouble is going on around you.
And wrt "change", why yes I DO expect you to give me fair value in a trade. You think gold only comes in 1 oz coins or kilo bars, or that you'll only do one transaction ever? If you're trading, you will have other gold from other trades. You might know it comes in smaller coins, more appropriate to smaller transactions. It comes in rings, chains, earrings, pendants, nuggets, dust, rounds and even shavings. Ferfal pointed out, you don't need to sell a whole necklace or chain at once, you can cut off an inch at a time....
I've never heard anyone turn down some free gold.
And I mostly hear stuff like "can't eat gold" from people who won't be eating anything other grass when/if it gets really bad. It's the people who otherwise have their shit together while pooh poohing gold that mystify me. It's a TOOL. Like a hammer, plow, or AR. It's PART of preps, part of a plan. It shouldn't be your whole plan, just as ammo and guns shouldn't be.
And yes, I carry gold every day. It's in my travel bag, 1 oz in .25 an .10 oz coins, as well as $1k in USD. 1oz of gold coin is a lot smaller than $2000 in bills, and convertible into whatever the local 'coin of the realm' is at a shop nearby.
So anyone with some gold they don't want, or think is useless, I'll be happy to provide a mailing address....
nick
A friend escaped Uganda as a child (during Idi Amin’s rule. ) Her parents sewed gold coins in her coat that they had saved. They were able to set up a new life in Canada with the stored value they brought with them. They may have bribed some guards along the way, but I don’t know for sure if they had to do that. But I’m sure they were ready to if necessary.
-Harbinger
I believe it was Ludwig von Mises who said that government is the only entity that can take a valuable commodity like paper, slap some ink on it, and make it totally worthless.
Nick, I enjoy reading your posts, but in case you didn't notice nobody was saying au and ag are useless. However, like all tools have limits.
If the water level drops 100 feet, then you must move to safe water or DIE. Rule of 3's stuff.
If someone steals all my gold but I'm still healthy not so much. My skills and tribe are still there.
Transport of value helps ONLY if you have passport, better yet residency in a host country AND transport. Walking into Mexico is apt to have you "Inspected" and relived of excess stuff by the police or cartels.
Walking into a shop to exchange gold for local currency implies Rule of Law (Not always available to Gringos from Nort America senior) AND that the Central Bank E-Currency isn't in force. IE Physical Cash vs Gov controlled e-dollars (etc.).
Given the LAME DUCK CONgress (spelling intentional) is trying to force through that 1.7 Trillion Dollar Omnibus package of some 4,155 pages of small print I WONDER IF there is an Electronic Dollar Central Bank style in it.
Getting rid of physical cash is a powerful Control system. Just ask the Chinese about that social score and ABILITY to spend your E-Yaun.
That turns the value of Gold and such into black market exchanges at best.
Buy au and ag AFTER you have rule of 3's stuff covered. Might be useful but when the trading involves the farmer going into black market to use that small gold coin, don't be surprised they are less interested.
Nick, I enjoy reading your posts, but in case you didn't notice nobody was saying au and ag are useless.
--yeah, sorry about that, my response started out a bit specific when it was meant to be general.
I don't think you need rule of law for gold to be useful. I think it's probably most useful during transitions between states of lawfulness. And I absolutely think gold is useful for crossing borders without passports and visas etc. Millions do it every day all over the world, our own southern border being an example (although 'valuable stuff' is being exchanged instead of actual physical gold. I'm sure a coyote will take gold instead of girl children, if offered.)
There are lots of stories of refugees escaping with gold or gems hidden about their persons. And think about it, if gold wasn't a valuable means of exchange, chain snatchers wouldn't be a thing.
All resources have downsides as well as upsides. I just don't want people to dismiss physical gold (and silver) for the same hoary old cliches' without thinking about it themselves and making choices appropriate to their situation. Every prepared person is someone that isn't looking at me like a dog looks at a porkchop, so I have a vested interest in it...
Merry Christmas to us all, and let's work toward a healthy and prosperous New Year.
nick
Nick, I hold au and ag because my Grandparents fled Germany after Kristallnacht. The stories told of needing some to bribe the German Guards so they could board their train and providing them with food, transport and shelter until my German Banker Grandfather could start over in NYC as a dockworker. I understand he passed his application to be a dockworker with a dab of ag.
During one of my medical missionary trips in Africa, one of my co-workers really needed to get back to the missionary hospital for emergency care. While the local police checkpoint knew we were medical missionaries it "Helped" that I gave them my wedding ring for their "Assistance" getting my injured friend to the hospital.
I do know that if I had offered one of the several sized gold coins in my wallet it was highly likely to have been treated as a "Gold Smuggler" and shaken down brutally as well as my friends.
Giving the police my "ONLY Wedding Ring" (10 caret cheapie) was enough to gain "Help" and made it likely that was ALL I HAD. I still travel with a couple of 10 caret wedding rings that fit me when I am overseas.
I've seen Mexican police beat an American who wanted to pay himself out of a traffic stop with a gold coin. Maybe he insulted them, but I suspect they figured he has MORE and they wanted it all. I don't know I left to avoid being part of the shakedown. Police in shakedown mode are dangerous.
Exactly. Some coins are actually worth more than the face amount.
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