I'd lie.

And silver, 100lbs of flour, same of rice, same of beans, 50lbs of salt, whole bunch of gunpowder, more lead, lots of white gas or kerosene, and a lot else of whatever I could find.

After reading quite a number of survival books the main barter items would not be gold,silver, or gemstones. The tradeable products will be Booze, Food and Water. Ammo woulld be lower down on the list since not every survivalist or surviver will have the same ammo. Most of what I have is of smaller caliber. I don't own any large or hunting caliber weapons.

He asked if it would help to have gold if the major economies of the world were to collapse.

In your opinion.

It's not irrelevant top the topic, but it isn't what he asked.

" the economies of the world are not going to collapse"
I strongly agree with this summary.

Ok, so you are the local market in your local Church's parking lot. You have wheat, rice, sugar, salt, pepper and bottled water available after the SHTF. Two people walk up and want to purchase some wheat and salt. One offers you a 10th OZ of gold and the other offers you some 7,62 x 39 ammo. Which is actually valuable to you? the gold may be a long term hedge, but the ammo can be used immediately to protect your commodities and you and your family. What is more important to you?

I didn't miss anything, ewv. I saw a slightly different priority of events than you. Your interpretation of the question and mine are not identical, and both are opinions. Nothing you have said invalidates what I have said, nor have my comments invalidated yours.
There was nothing inappropriate in what I wrote. It was on topic.

Are you saying that, because there's an economic meltdown, that thousands of years of history using gold and silver would suddenly disappear? What would you accept for your property? If you had food, ammunition, water, etc., what would you be willing to swap for that?

A literal collapse of major economies into primitivism would most likely mean a collapse of the technological infrastructure, including the power grid that would take everything else with it, quickly leaving most people with nothing to buy or barter with anything. Under such conditions gold wouldn't be useful.

You miss the point of his question. It isn't about government confiscation. It's about would gold have value if you have it. Nothing would have value as a currency if there were nothing to buy. If there were, it's not clear if gold would become a useful currency. It doesn't have the status as currency it did in the 1930s when it was banned. It may or may not be of practical economic value in comparison with objectively useful commodities. More reliable is that directly useful commodities would be of value for barter under such severe circumstances as a collapse of technological major economies. (But they confiscate that, too, beginning with rationing.)

I don't know, but it doesn't make much difference
as to what I am going to do. Because I can't af-
ford now to buy enough gold to amount to anything,
if I'm going to pay the rent and utilities, and eat.

At least according to the stories my Grandparents told me, men came to the door if they thought you had gold and gave you one chance to produce it. They "favored" neighbors that would turn you in. They went into their next door neighbors basement and tore all of the concrete out of it because he had patched several cracks in the floor, tore open walls and their yard. They didn't find any Gold, but it apparently made a good example for others to turn what little Gold they had.

Don't misunderstand me, gold has frequently been a stable currency throughout history, but the most used currency and usually the most valuable has been Salt. It may be easy to obtain now, but if the worst happens it won't be that easy unless you happen to live near a salt deposit.

the chinese commies who run the country are smater than the socialists that run the usa. they referring to the chinese may very well be learning an economics lesson i.e. you can't spend for things such as housing if there are no people available to occupy the buildings and pay for them. so yes they have played all of their cards, but are now reassessing their situation and understanding that governments like businesses must spend less than they take in to survive. that is a lesson that has and will continue to fall on deaf ears or brainless people in wash.dc

Exactly what I was going to add.

No! In a barter economy, at the Human Level, it will be something you have to someone else for something they have that you need. i.e. I am capable of hunting and trapping while my lawn is a mass of weeds, revealing my lack of agrarian skill.

I just got done reading a book that gives very concrete reasons why a collapse is not only inevitable but imminent. It's called "The Death of Money" by James Rickards. I cite some passages from the book in my review here:

http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...

This is where an economist and insider tasked with detecting insider trading for national security purposes goes into detail about macroeconomic issues including the Fed, the IMF, the weak dollar vs strong dollar policies, China, the value of gold, and more.

Several people on this thread have already pointed out that the salient variable is: What kind of collapse?

Unless an asteroid hits the Earth, catastrophe will take the form of slo-mo dominoes affecting some regions more than others. Very primitive areas will have life-as-usual; modern ranches and farms will have to watch their petrol supplies carefully; Los Angeles and NY will be SOL. Most of the US is 'somewhere in between'.

Immediately after a collapse, you will still be able to use credit cards and checks for a few days...because 'that is how we do it'. (Buy a bicycle.) Then, cash will be accepted for a little while longer - and that may be as far as the catastrophe takes us. If the situation deteriorates further, then we will get to a place where gold will be valuable. (At that point, buy chickens and 50 gallon drums and a horse.) If things get even worse, then gold will loose value and the only things that will get you something valuable in trade are antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals, street drugs, livestock, and food/water.

So, in some sorts of collapses we will be in a 'gold is valuable' phase for at least a while.

Jan

China over built as well. Seems like their government has played all it's cards to prevent a major pull back.

Absolutely. Things that are of functional value could become currency if they are uniform quality and long shelf life, e.g., ammunition. Early in such a collapse, imo, government would try to collect (steal) things that might be used as security, e.g., gold , as was done by FDR.

"could be?" how about we are deep into the collapse.. as for china why worry since we are the cause since we ain't buying much these days. notice the domino effect started by the usa. china and all other countries are falling and it is happening faster than you think.

ROFL