I think the Euro is going to crash long before the dollar will. The Europeans are finding out more everyday that Germany is the only country that is any kind of good financial shape and if Germany smartly pulls out of the euro market then all of the participating countrys will crash.

ALL paper currencies must be backed up by something tageble.
Since the gold is squirreled away why can't each american dollar be backed up by a specific parcel ( lot marked on each circulated dollar a desert lot would be larger than a fertile lot of course but each lot worth what the dollar was worth in 1913) of Unspoiled Government* (ergo publicly owned) land? If a person can accumulate lots next to each other they can if they wish trade the dollars for the lot.

This would eliminate inflation since they cannot make more government land.

This is very rudimentary idea of course there are bound to be flaws.

Fiat currency is a ponzi scheme. History has taught us that fiat currency always fails. The problem with fractional reserve banking and fiat currency is that you continually put more and more non-existant dollars into circulation at the push of a button. The pie doesn't get bigger, each indivual piece just gets smaller. So the same can be said of fiat currency. Value is determined by output of a country or GDP. You can increase it, but only nominally. So the more fiat currency you circulate relative to it simply makes each unit ov currency less valuable against it. Make sense?

The dollar has never been worth anything. It is a note on a debt.

The dollar is not going anywhere, even with all the volatility in the markets, countries all around the world are still buying US bonds, because they are the most reliable way of investments

So the dollar may be devaluated, US lost its triple rating but the dollar is still in demand.

Many wonder why, I guess US reputation is still good regardless of what is going on economically.

You are right about the dollar. It goes no where but down. Interest is the reason. The way the Fed controls it justs adds fuel to the fire.

Silver is another matter. My Grandad died about 20 years ago. His savings consisted of mostly silver coins. He had several 5 gallon milk jugs full. his estate was split many ways so everything was liquidated. My parents and aunts and uncles probably now wish they had held on, but for my Grandfather he never made one red cent by investing in silver and struggled all his life. Had he instead taken that silver and used it to invest in the stock market, his life and his legacy would have been much grander. Let's be honest. Until last year Silver and other precious metals have lagged inflation for a very long period of time. I still see estimates of $2500 gold because that is the point where it's return will meet the long term inflation rate. Not sure of that number for silver.

For the time period mentioned I calculate about a 15 times return on the money during that time period which equals about $60,000. This does not however include dividends of 2-3% which would have been reinvested for the last 46 years, easily giving stocks a pretty large margin over silver for the timeframe of 1964 - now.