Quote from Ivanovich:
No, it isn't. If I cannot get what I need with it because it is not liquid, then it is worthless.
It might have value, much in the same way a Pete Rose Rookie Baseball Card has value. But if no one is willing to give me what I ask for it then it is not liquid, and therefore not money.
I go to the store and get food with money. If I take gold to the local Acme food store, I cannot get a gallon of milk. If I take an ounce of gold to the gas station, they won't fill up my car.
If the economy suddenly collapses, you think someone is going to have an instant medium of exchange set up so only those with gold will get what they need? Of course not. Deliveries won't be made to the grocery store. Food won't be able to be purchased with precious metals.
If anything, total anarchy will see a return to the BARTER system. Gold won't be worth squat.
Friggen tin foil hats.
Quote from Tigerjaw:
Well IMO you both make good points.
In fact all 'money' is an illusion - - created out of the human need to try to capture some sense of security about the future. Real Wealth has the capacity to support x number of human lives, x number of forward days. Little pieces of paper with dead notables on them won't do that. Bigger pieces of paper with accounting figures on them won't do that either - - - especially if the entities backing those figures are lying or have gone tits up, or the illusion counting in those accounts has had their values drastically devalued by central banks creating even more of the little illusions, or govts declare 'bank holidays' so you can't get to the accounts, etc, etc, etc. (they seem to have an almost infinite level of creativity for such things.) - Little shiny pieces of metal won't do it - - you sure can't eat them. I can't imagine they'd make very good bullets either. But, people have been fooled by the illusion of gold for longer than any other form of money illusion, so IMO its not a bad idea to have a bit of the physical stuff as a hedge. In the worse case doom-and-gloom scenario, it would be best to turn all that illusion 'money' into something physically useful. Back to living like the pioneers ! I do enjoy camping & roughing it outdoors, - - but that seems a bit drastic at this point. Besides, all that Real Wealth stuff takes up a ton of space !
Quote from Ivanovich:
No, it isn't. If I cannot get what I need with it because it is not liquid, then it is worthless.
It might have value, much in the same way a Pete Rose Rookie Baseball Card has value. But if no one is willing to give me what I ask for it then it is not liquid, and therefore not money.
I go to the store and get food with money. If I take gold to the local Acme food store, I cannot get a gallon of milk. If I take an ounce of gold to the gas station, they won't fill up my car.
If the economy suddenly collapses, you think someone is going to have an instant medium of exchange set up so only those with gold will get what they need? Of course not. Deliveries won't be made to the grocery store. Food won't be able to be purchased with precious metals.
If anything, total anarchy will see a return to the BARTER system. Gold won't be worth squat.
Friggen tin foil hats.
Quote from Ivanovich:
No, it isn't. If I cannot get what I need with it because it is not liquid, then it is worthless.
It might have value, much in the same way a Pete Rose Rookie Baseball Card has value. But if no one is willing to give me what I ask for it then it is not liquid, and therefore not money.
I go to the store and get food with money. If I take gold to the local Acme food store, I cannot get a gallon of milk. If I take an ounce of gold to the gas station, they won't fill up my car.
If the economy suddenly collapses, you think someone is going to have an instant medium of exchange set up so only those with gold will get what they need? Of course not. Deliveries won't be made to the grocery store. Food won't be able to be purchased with precious metals.
If anything, total anarchy will see a return to the BARTER system. Gold won't be worth squat.
Friggen tin foil hats.