Gold/silver overrated?

reply to post by Nephlim


In a global economic crisis gold would lose value very quickly. It's a novelty and if no one is doing well enough to want a novelty, then your shiny novelty will be worthless. As a metal it is worthless for anything except it's shine. Copper, brass, lead, steel, other more practical metals would be more valueble. "Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it". Old proverbs never die.

How many calories in an ounce of gold? Case closed!

have you guys looked at the great depression at all? try a google search..
how about the argentina economic collapse? www.youtube.com...

how about that gold increasing in value during the last 10 years? while everything else is going down? My little deposit of gold now lets me buy 5 rifles when i could have just bought one with it, if it had been in anything else.

there are many many collapses where having gold is important. any economic collapse would be worth it, as long as the economic collapse wasn't straight up the end of the world as we know it. As long as some trade is ongoing gold will increase in value during troublesome times. don't take my word for it, look at the great depression, and the u.s. now.

I realize that there are collapses where gold is worth less, such as in the yugoslovian civil war that selco went through.
there will probably be collapses where gold is worth nothing.

But to totally say gold is worthless and will never be worth anything is naive and the by product of watching too many zombie movies and not studying enough ACTUAL REAL LIFE SHTFs.

reply to post by cassandranova


It is very over-rated and will drop in value very soon.....U2U me if you want to dump it....

Most shtf's are either ganna a couple day disasters such as katrina, stablizing in a week to a month, or looking at history its ganna be an economic collapse like modern day russia and argentina.

most modern shtfs are economic collapses, and the way america is going this will happen in our life times.
so for sure our currency is ganna keep going down and gold is ganna keep going up.

when WW3 starts and every major city is nuked and theres no more trade, then yes gold will be nearly worthless.

Originally posted by Nephlim
have you guys looked at the great depression at all? try a google search..
how about the argentina economic collapse? www.youtube.com...

Yes, I think most people understand that it is still "valuable", but it will only be valuable if you have someone to give it to.

how about that gold increasing in value during the last 10 years? while everything else is going down? My little deposit of gold now lets me buy 5 rifles when i could have just bought one with it, if it had been in anything else.

Who are you planning to trade gold for rifles with? I mean, do you expect to find an un-looted gun store with owners willing to share their guns with you? And, if you are so lucky, are you planning to tote those 5 rifles in a backpack as you walk home (since you likely will not be able to buy gas with gold)? Also, how do you plan to be allowed through checkpoints with the same bag of rifles during a state of martial law?

there are many many collapses where having gold is important. any economic collapse would be worth it, as long as the economic collapse wasn't straight up the end of the world as we know it. As long as some trade is ongoing gold will increase in value during troublesome times. don't take my word for it, look at the great depression, and the u.s. now.

The current state of the US is nothing at all like the state of the US during the Great Depression other than in statistical unemployment rates.

Unemployed folks during the Great Depression had a hard time paying for food for their children and would do any work they could find, often uprooting their families to become migrant workers living in tent camps.

Unemployed folks in the current US have a hard time paying their iPhone bills with the money they get from the government to stay in their large houses, drive their large cars, and look for jobs with large salaries.

Not quite an accurate comparison.

I realize that there are collapses where gold is worth less, such as in the yugoslovian civil war that selco went through.
there will probably be collapses where gold is worth nothing.

Yes, gold will be worth very little to the majority of the population in the case of a systemic economic collapse. Why? Because they will not have any gold for barter and will not even bother trying to trade in metals. People will be worried about surviving, not the worth of precious metals.

But to totally say gold is worthless and will never be worth anything is naive and the by product of watching too many zombie movies and not studying enough ACTUAL REAL LIFE SHTFs.

Gold will always be worth something - to people who think it is worth something. To everyone else, it's just metal.

ACTUAL REAL LIFE SHTF Scenarios are ones where nothing makes sense anymore, all systems are broken, one must do what one must to survive.

I get it: having a store of gold gives you a sense of security and stability.

Sure, it might even be worth something in the long term - after people start working to establish a new system and start to implement the same old trap of inflation and speculation.

Just don't expect anyone else to care that you've got gold, unless you want to be killed for it.

One should never count out human nature in a desperate situation.

Originally posted by Nephlim
Most shtf's are either ganna a couple day disasters such as katrina, stablizing in a week to a month, or looking at history its ganna be an economic collapse like modern day russia and argentina.

Where do you live? The effects of Katrina are still tangible and visible. People are still recovering from that disaster and trying to get their lives back together - seven years later.

most modern shtfs are economic collapses, and the way america is going this will happen in our life times.
so for sure our currency is ganna keep going down and gold is ganna keep going up.

This is true, and there's not really anything one can do about it. If everything goes to precious metal trade, you will be set. At least, until you run out of precious metal.

when WW3 starts and every major city is nuked and theres no more trade, then yes gold will be nearly worthless.

Bingo.

im not buyin any , wont be able to eat it . or drink it , why would you trade life and death item for shiny metal , maybe only if the wife wants a new pair of earings as she's starving hungry .

I've yet to see any prepper consider something valued highly across all cultures and histories: SPICE.
Salt is a necessity, pepper a luxury that will be missed when people start living off their usually bland stores. You can find apples, but to use them without cinnamon? That will be missed. So would ginger, allspice, nutmeg, etc. Add to this the millions of homeopathic/natural uses of spices for treating illness and it increases it's value even more.
I shudder at the potential trading with liquor and cigarettes; they have an ill effect enough in this culture I would hope to live without them in the (potential) next.
Leave the pretty metal gold......think salt, yeast, coffee and tea. And spices.

reply to post by stars15k


Yes, spices will be a hot commodity - they always have been.

I'm not sure why everyone is preparing for a situation similar to the movie "The Road". That is a very movie like SHTF scenario that has never been seen ANYWHERE except for maybe Mogadishu and Afghanistan. We are not heading there, lets be realistic, the situation will be more like an enhanced version of the Great Depression if anything or as others have mentioned like Russia or Argentina. Its not going to be a zombie movie and even if it is, it wont last long.

So yes, in those moments where people are trying to survive, Gold and Silver wont be doing anything and anyone who buys physical metals wont be doing anything with them either...except patiently waiting.

Not if, but when, TPTB let chaos rule and then bring back order to change our economy and financial way of life, at that point, you'll wish you had something other than paper fiat money. It's already useless and will be completely removed at that point. Those with metals will cash in nicely at that stage in the game.

But if you want zombies, you can make believe all you want. Considering 99% of us in the west have never been in a situation like that before, your cigarettes, guns and toilet paper, wont do much for you. Most likely you'll be looking down the barrel of a police or military gun. Not holed up in your bunker like a post apocalyptic movie star....

Originally posted by ottobot
Who are you planning to trade gold for rifles with? I mean, do you expect to find an un-looted gun store with owners willing to share their guns with you? And, if you are so lucky, are you planning to tote those 5 rifles in a backpack as you walk home (since you likely will not be able to buy gas with gold)? Also, how do you plan to be allowed through checkpoints with the same bag of rifles during a state of martial law?

edit on 15-3-2012 by Nephlim because: (no reason given)

edit on 15-3-2012 by Nephlim because: don't know how to use the quote feature quite yet