Originally Posted by
unknownk
90% of the stores most people shop at are corporate run, the person running the register has no authority to take gold as payment. If you are known to be wealthy in your community it doesn't matter what your wealth is, people will give you credit and work around your "craziness" since they know they will get paid. Come to my neighborhood where nobody knows you and you will have a hard time cashing gold in other then those gold for cash places. Keeping all your wealth in a commodity that is way over normal levels is just stupid, just as stupid as putting it all into one stock.
What gives anybody the idea that a piece of paper backed with gold is better then a piece of paper backed by nothing then the government issuing it? Do you think that the US government ever had enough gold and silver to cash out everyones paper money before 1932? You can make a $1 silver coin as small as you want, hell it doesn't even have to be all silver (ask a Roman soldier 2000 years ago how silver and gold backed currency works for the little guy). When it comes down to it the US paper money is backed by the US economy and the US army, if you want to trade goods with this country you will deal in Dollars or nothing. When both the economy and the army falls apart your gold will be worth less then my lead if you know what I mean. Also the government can grab all your gold whenever they want to, make it illegal to own or trade in, something they can't do with fiat money.
I'm sorry, I still have to disagree with you.
Not only do I go out of my way, regardless if I am spending cash or spending a precious metal, to do business with the small business owner rather than corporations, if I am able. I don't support the corporate mentality that is only morally obligated to their stock holders, and not humans.
All through history, the only thing that has ever been readily accepted as a means of trading value, has been precious metals. It was first commodities like olive oil for example, and animals, but as people started to travel longer distances they needed to be able to exchange their commodities into a different commodity that was recognized and readily accepted by other people they wished to trade with regardless of where in the world they were located, what language they spoke, etc. It has been the longest standing and most stable form of monetary exchange the world has ever known, ever.
I also would debate what you base the dollars value on. If you follow what our economy is based on, it boils down to oil, we are an oil based economy period. Oil is what affects prices, oil determines the cost of trade, it's oil more than anything else that our monetary system is built on. If we were to take a country like Brazil, their economy is based on food production, which while being different is just as volatile. Considering we have already achieved peak oil, meaning we have plenty of oil in the ground by cannot pump it out of the ground fast enough to supply the demand, where do you think the value of the dollar is going to go? We hit a wall where we cannot produce anymore oil than we already are, no growth, which is exactly what our form of economy relies on for it's continued healthy existence.
In dealing in international trade, I came to realize regardless of what people may think, that commodities and goods are exchanged for not only the all mighty dollar, but also the Euro, and the HK Dollar as it's called as well as other currencies. But it really doesn't matter, it's all electronically transferred and really just amounts to numbers in a database on a computer system somewhere.
So if the world goes to crap tomorrow, everyone will still know what gold is, and recognize it as having an intrinsic value, and will deal with you based on their ability to in turn trade it for what they need, after all that's the entire point of any currency.
And what makes you think the Government cannot grab your money? What leads you to believe that the numbers you have saved in the bank are safe from the Government? Literally, each time you sign a signature card, or anytime you have signed for a loan, a credit card, anything to do with any banking institution like a home loan, car, etc, if you read the fine print what it states is that you are agreeing to pay back our national debt. This is called "Federal Tax", in fact the way the Federal Government is able to circumvent laws that were put into place to prevent exactly this situation. Since the Federal Reserve, which is owned by private entities, loans money to the US Government so it can operate, and since it also "federally" insures money on deposit at banks, you really have no say. So let me enlighten you to a scenario I have given a lot of thought to, and which bothers me a great deal. If our Government defaults paying interest to the Federal Reserve, that "we the people" owe due to our signing for a loan or bank account, the Federal Reserve could potentially confiscate funds in bank accounts to cover our governments debt. Just exactly the way gold was confiscated in 1933, and can replace the value of that money with whatever they desire. In 1933 it was paper money, with no real value. There is no law that exists that specifically prevents an action like this taking place.
But if our government doesn't know I have gold, or where I have it, I can take my gold, silver or whatever other precious metals, and leave this country before it's taken away from me and establish a life elsewhere. Try to do that with American Dollars.
I understand your arguments, and under certain conditions they might have merit. I am not expert, nor an economist, I just know people who are and have listened to what they say and even asked advice from time to time.
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