Quote from Ivanovich:
I disagree. The mercantile system of grocery stores, warehouses, trucking, manufacturers, growers, etc., are not going to be able to accept gold for payment. You won't be able to exchange gold at your local store because it won't be set up to handle it. It will also probably be illegal to do so.
If anything, the barter system will make a huge comeback.
Wait, I'm silly because you say my gold won't be accepted, but you are going to walk a cow into the grocery store and barter it for potatoes and aspirin?
There's a sliding scale of currency collapse. I'm not going to take my gold
today and go buy bread and cheese. It's not even a "worst case scenario", it's a "pretty bad case scenario".
I hold metal, not exclusively, but as a part of diversification. I also hold some cash under my mattress, I just put some of my wealth into a solid vehicle (as in more truck than I need for my suburban lifestyle), I keep some in the bank, some in bonds, and my wife makes sure we have at least a month's worth of food in the pantry at all times.
I'm ready for some catastrophe, but not all because I don't let it control my life:
I am ready for a stock market crash (last week affected me not at all). I am ready for a month-long food scarcity. I'm ready for my dollars to become worthless.
I am ready for a shutdown of basic utilities (water and electricity). My wife's parents live on a good sized plot of property within 20 minutes drive, on the grid but with a well and generator backup.
What if rogue Chinese hackers cause an acute electronic banking crisis here in the US, and Obama declares a weeklong bank shutdown as everybody restores from offline backups? As in no ATM's, no debit or credit card transactions. I'm ready for that. Think it could never happen? On Sep 10, 2001 what did the world think could never happen?
All of the catastrophe I prepare for has an upside even if the catastrophe never comes. I like driving a big rig; I feel safer and can make costco trips with ease, heh. I like having plenty of food in the house, always something to eat without having to call for delivery. I like looking at my shiny metal coins, especially as their value increases.