quote:

Originally posted by jerZ07002 in that case, you have a fundamental difference with anyone with basic understanding of commodities pricing.

you never disappoint jerZ07002!

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quote:

Originally posted by jerZ07002 in that case, you have a fundamental difference with anyone with basic understanding of commodities pricing. There must be an underlying desire for the actual commodity. The value of a currency is only a driver to the extent the commodity is still in demand.

I believe in an economic collapse, there would be an increased demand on all commodities, including gold/silver.

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quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN you never disappoint jerZ07002!

Both of you disappoint...

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Originally posted by Krypton Both of you disappoint...

no, i just dont think you've fully grasped our argument. you're setting up a false situation. your currency will not devalue 90% overnight unless that devaluation is the least of your worries in a very serious, almost cataclysmic situation (whatever that may be).

in such a situation, with currencies collapsing, currency will be worth nothing. thus things like precious metals, will also be worth nothing. in such a situation, nobody gives a shit about things like gold. they care about food, water, oxygen, shelter.

also a note- gold wouldn't be worth more anyway. what's the point in having heaps of gold if you can only trade it for useless currency?

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How would you obtain food? Stealing it? Even if New York were nuked, there would still be an economy, though, a prosperous one destroyed, a medium of exchange would still be necessary to obtain things like food and water.

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quote:

Originally posted by Krypton How would you obtain food? Stealing it? Even if New York were nuked, there would still be an economy, though, a prosperous one destroyed, a medium of exchange would still be necessary to obtain things like food and water.

but you havent explained why gold would have any value in this currency.

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quote:

Originally posted by Krypton I believe in an economic collapse, there would be an increased demand on all commodities, including gold/silver.

Well, exactly: the point is that gold (especially if it were to replace money as a form of currency) is subject to exactly the same fluctuations in value at the hand of supply / demand factors as money currently is. Commodity prices are stable now because they aren't traded or valued in the same way that currencies presently are. If we were to replace the US dollar with gold, say, the valuation of gold would be subject to the same sort of trends in valuation (including the possibility of precipitous collapse) that the dollar is now. At the moment the strength of the dollar is tied inexorably to the state of the economy. If gold usurps the dollar as the pre-eminent mediatory upon which all trade depends, then its value too will come to be inexorably tied to the state of the economy - that's just basic economics. Like Lebezniatnikov said, gold has no inherent value beyond that which people are willing to attribute to it, so there is no reason to imagine that it's going to retain some absolute value in a period of drastic economic upheaval.

Like pkc said, if the world does go to shit, you'd be better off having your money invested in food because you can safely assume that demand for it (and therefore, value of it), will - unlike gold - remain relatively constant no matter what the scope of the economic calamity is.

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN but you havent explained why gold would have any value in this currency.

I didn't say gold would be a new currency. I just believe that it would be useful in bartering. You, I go out looking for food. I offer a gold coin, I might get something, ya dig homie?

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quote:

Originally posted by Krypton I didn't say gold would be a new currency. I just believe that it would be useful in bartering. You, I go out looking for food. I offer a gold coin, I might get something, ya dig homie?

well i tell you to get stuffed and shoot you and take your gold, because i invested my money in guns and food.

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quote:

Originally posted by Krypton I didn't say gold would be a new currency. I just believe that it would be useful in bartering. You, I go out looking for food. I offer a gold coin, I might get something, ya dig homie?

no, because it doesn't make sense. if everyone is looking for food why would someone with food trade it for gold? That just doesn't make sense. In a truly cataclysmic situation the only thing i would trade for food is water, shelter, and weaponry.

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN well i tell you to get stuffed and shoot you and take your gold, because i invested my money in guns and food.

I would already be carrying around my AK-47 modified to fire automatic...SON...

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seriously, wtf are you blokes on about??

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A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire