Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it becomes, marked: ‘Account overdrawn.’
— Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
Photo Credit: jessicareedeer
Sounds familiar to a country I know of. Bloomberg TV even discussed how investing in coins(silver/gold) is a wise investment on many levels. It was a nice change stock news all day. Lately I have been able to acquire a signiicant amount of silver coins. Hopefully this will pay off year down the road.
Rand wrote ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as a warning, but it sure appears that our current leaders look upon the book as a blueprint…
Yes, Lauren. Its message is becoming more and more prescient with each passing day.
Well, I don’t buy the gold bug arguments….pun intended.
“Gold is a hedge against inflation before it rises. But once there is high inflation, the picture turns around. Assuming the Fed does manage to control inflation. Basically, once inflation is high, it’s too late to “hedge” against inflation that already happened.”
etc etc. If interest rates stay high, fixed returns will preform better than gold. As for a safety hedge in case of collapse, pray tell how will you buy some groceries with your gold? Won’t happen. I guess if people were streaming out to anywhere, as in post WW2 or Mad Max, precious metals are portable and could get a family set up. Maybe.
I believe in paid for land in a low crime low tax area. A stable democracy would help. We’re all different and I am speaking from a rural perspective, but I grew up on stories of the Great Depression my parents lived through. As a result years ago I bought good land where no one wanted to move to at that time. My friends thought I was nuts. Not anymore. Our garden is thriving and the river is full of fish.
The best investments out there….imho, are pretty straight forward. Maintain your health, and solidify relationships. Get rid of debt. Own affordable land or any kind of home and learn to produce food if in a suitable location. Any food. learn and practice skills and trade those skills with others. Be generous. Quick example….we have a small forest fire burning about 7 km from our house. There is no threat to us and it will likely be under control in a day or so. But last night we had many calls from folks who live elsewhere offering us a place to stay.
Tomorrow I will set up the fire pump on our dock and get the hoses out…..just in case. The fire pump was bought for me after I built a friend a cottage he could live in. It was a present from him; the pump and the intake hose and 400′ of fire hose. That is what I meant about relationships.
My neighbour is a gold bug and watches his computer all day…checking prices and reading web sites that confirms his belief the end is nigh….in all ways. He has gold and silver hidden in his house. Crazy. Beautiful evening here and we walked over to our pond. Checked to see how the spuds were growing. Just read this site before shutting the day down. Question: If this was your last day, or maybe your last month on earth, how would you have rather spent your days? Afraid and planning hedges? Or appreciating what you do have and what you can control?
Regards and good evening. Paul
Of course gold won’t protect buyers from inflation that has already occurred! It is wealth insurance, Paul. Would you expect your insurance company to offer you home owners insurance on a house that has already burned to the ground? Why do you think I spend every Saturday Black Coffee column imploring my readers to buy their insurance ASAP? In other words: before the shit hits the fan – not after.
As for gold not performing in a rising interest rate environment, you need to go back and review gold’s performance during the 1970s. Or the decade after the Dot Com bubble burst. Thank me later. 😉
While you are reviewing history, you should also review what happened in Weimar during its hyperinflation event of the early 1920s. Or Zimbabwe circa 2008-2010. Or Venezuela today. And that’s just for starters; there are plenty of modern examples where society relied on the use of gold and silver as currency in order to conduct commerce when fiat collapsed. Heck … there are plenty of people conducting commerce with gold and silver today – despite a functioning fiat monetary system. I suggest you start with the definitive book on Weimar, When Money Dies, by Adam Fergusson. Again, you can thank me later. 😉
And a few closing points: Despite your intimations: 1) Taking time to smell the roses and enjoy life isn’t the exclusive domain of those who believe precious metals will be of no help in a currency collapse, and 2) there are plenty of precious metals advocates who are also willing to help their neighbors in a pinch. While I’m at it, you also conflate those who believe the current monetary system is on its last legs with those who also believe “the end is nigh.” Frankly, the three points you tried to make badly missed their target; some might even say they were cheap shots. Either way, I expect better.
That being said, respectful contrarian viewpoints are always welcome here. As always, I encourage my readers to evaluate both sides and come to their own conclusions.
Good evening.