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Booze
Pot
Pain killers
Antibiotics
Diabetic drugs
High blood pressure meds
Femin products
TP
Portable electricity
Food
Seeds
Security
Ammo
Firearms
Would be on my list before some clump of metal I wouldn't be using to make something.
 
I've been hoarding freedom seeds.

Screen Shot 2019-05-06 at 6.54.41 PM.png
 
Sweden: I recall reading about their welcoming of their most recent immigrants and how well that worked out...

I have no interest in listening to their 'progressive ideas'.
 
Once again, it must be said that if an economy falls apart, gold and silver will have little value, either. In Venezuela they are wanting food, goods, items that keep their families afloat.

Gold is useless!

Likely not useless, however also likely not worth the value of what it was paid for.

The true value of metals within an economic collapse is multifold. Portability & value AFTER economy has normalized.

The real trick would be to have enough durable goods to survive thru a collapse, and also not have it taken...
 
The real trick is living a lifestyle of buying a little extra every month, forever. Not getting a bunch of stuff NOW. Nope. A little stuff, over and over and over. Sure, buy gold and silver. But don't forget piles of toilet paper, buckets of ammo, canned goods, gasoline, booze, etc. Then gold...
 
My doctors office, A Providence affiliate, will not take my cash.
Refusing to give them my card, they so far they are billing me so I can send a check. I'm wondering when that will stop.
Sez right on the FRN (US currency) that it is "Legal tender for all debts, public and private"... I saw a similar case in Michigan several decades ago- a business refusing to use "dollars" got into trouble with the feds. Not sure of the details as the old memory-banks aint what they used to be...:(
 
The real trick is living a lifestyle of buying a little extra every month, forever. Not getting a bunch of stuff NOW. Nope. A little stuff, over and over and over. Sure, buy gold and silver. But don't forget piles of toilet paper, buckets of ammo, canned goods, gasoline, booze, etc. Then gold...
Yep, thats how to do it- and rotate older stuff out and use it.. store stuff you will actually eat! And things that will be useful to barter. Maintain operational security- no one outside your immediate family needs to know what you're doing- ask the Ukrainian kulaks!:eek:..
Take a page from the Mormons (LDS) as far as stocking up useful necessities to access in a pinch. Granted the LDS church itself maintains supplies to help out needy
congregants, but also strongly suggests each household maintain it's own "pantry" as well. They also maintain their own stores where people can purchase Mormon-raised and packaged various food items. Their can be strength in numbers, especially in a group that maintains it's own checks and balances to prevent profiteering and embezzlement. I was given a list by an LDS member of the stuff the church recommends as a household stash, and while I am NOT LDS I do find the list useful as far as my own long-term stocking goes.
My own parents were children of the Great Depression and both realised the wisdom of keeping supplies on hand, if only for the looong Michigan winters- they kept a supply bin in the basement, in a well insulated former "ice house" dating to the days before refrigeration. They stored home-canned goods and fresh fruits and potatoes..
Ive tried for years to get the wife interested in such but only with limited success...
An old friend who was in Germany at the end of ww2 (he was part of the American
occupation forces) told me that toilet paper, women's sanitary napkins, and bottled alcohol (booze) were among the most valuable things on the black market, along with food stuffs. But(t) especially, toilet paper. Somehow that makes sense to me...:p
 
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My doctors office, A Providence affiliate, will not take my cash.
Refusing to give them my card, they so far they are billing me so I can send a check. I'm wondering when that will stop.


Cash will be a thing of the past shortly, once the do away with it they have total watch where it goes through so they get their tax dollar from every transaction.
I to do not do banks, so useing these different pay sites like paypal, google pay and others does not work in my world. It will become s cashless society in the near future.
I seen a while ago a show on the future grocery shopping you take your cart & grocery bags, place all of your goods in the bags. When you leave the store the censores read all of the RFID chips from the groceries in your cart, totals it and draws the money off the RFID chip from your debit/credit card.
 
Cash will be a thing of the past shortly, once the do away with it they have total watch where it goes through so they get their tax dollar from every transaction.
I to do not do banks, so useing these different pay sites like paypal, google pay and others does not work in my world. It will become s cashless society in the near future.
I seen a while ago a show on the future grocery shopping you take your cart & grocery bags, place all of your goods in the bags. When you leave the store the censores read all of the RFID chips from the groceries in your cart, totals it and draws the money off the RFID chip from your debit/credit card.


I disagree, I use cash for most of my payments or money orders for bills I mail in--I can tell you Moneygram is not in any danger of being put out of their money order business anytime soon

Just because someone blows smoke up your @ss doesn't mean you'll be riding in the flying car Popular Science has been talking about since the 1930's anytime soon
 
Cash will be a thing of the past shortly, once the do away with it they have total watch where it goes through so they get their tax dollar from every transaction.
I to do not do banks, so useing these different pay sites like paypal, google pay and others does not work in my world. It will become s cashless society in the near future.
I seen a while ago a show on the future grocery shopping you take your cart & grocery bags, place all of your goods in the bags. When you leave the store the censores read all of the RFID chips from the groceries in your cart, totals it and draws the money off the RFID chip from your debit/credit card.

I've caught stores over charging me . Giving them or anyone else free access to my bank account does not appeal to me.
 
Once again, it must be said that if an economy falls apart, gold and silver will have little value, either. In Venezuela they are wanting food, goods, items that keep their families afloat.

Gold is useless!
You're kidding, right?
Ask any Vietnamese "boat person " who now owns a chain of stores how useless gold is. Tons of them came in with gold on or in their bodies.
In Venezuela they want food because they didn't have the gold to bankroll their way out of that mess.
Gold has always had value, ever since civilization started. There will always be someone who wants it.
 
@GWS Those Vietnamese immigrants were escaping into a functional economy. And the world as a whole was a functional economy. Gold and other precious metals have obvious value in that context.

When I wrote my statement about gold being useless, it was predicated on "if an economy falls apart."

Are you suggesting that gold has more use in a total economic collapse than gasoline or food?
 
Yep, thats how to do it- and rotate older stuff out and use it.. store stuff you will actually eat! And things that will be useful to barter. Maintain operational security- no one outside your immediate family needs to know what you're doing- ask the Ukrainian kulaks!:eek:..
Take a page from the Mormons (LDS) as far as stocking up useful necessities to access in a pinch. Granted the LDS church itself maintains supplies to help out needy
congregants, but also strongly suggests each household maintain it's own "pantry" as well. They also maintain their own stores where people can purchase Mormon-raised and packaged various food items. Their can be strength in numbers, especially in a group that maintains it's own checks and balances to prevent profiteering and embezzlement. I was given a list by an LDS member of the stuff the church recommends as a household stash, and while I am NOT LDS I do find the list useful as far as my own long-term stocking goes.
My own parents were children of the Great Depression and both realised the wisdom of keeping supplies on hand, if only for the looong Michigan winters- they kept a supply bin in the basement, in a well insulated former "ice house" dating to the days before refrigeration. They stored home-canned goods and fresh fruits and potatoes..
Ive tried for years to get the wife interested in such but only with limited success...
An old friend who was in Germany at the end of ww2 (he was part of the American
occupation forces) told me that toilet paper, women's sanitary napkins, and bottled alcohol (booze) were among the most valuable things on the black market, along with food stuffs. But(t) especially, toilet paper. Somehow that makes sense to me...:p
LDS operated canneries for prepping. There are two local to the Portland area, one on 82nd and one out in St. Paul. They are pretty neat places and you don't have to be LDS to go in, they're open to the public. The prices are better than all of the big brands on freeze dried and staple items. All of the the food they process for storage is grown locally on farms that they own in the area.
Home Storage Center Locations Map
 
LDS operated canneries for prepping. There are two local to the Portland area, one on 82nd and one out in St. Paul. They are pretty neat places and you don't have to be LDS to go in, they're open to the public. The prices are better than all of the big brands on freeze dried and staple items. All of the the food they process for storage is grown locally on farms that they own in the area.
Home Storage Center Locations Map

For southern Oregonians, the storehouse in Central Point is rather nice as well, staffed by nice folk (as is the norm).
 
@GWS Those Vietnamese immigrants were escaping into a functional economy. And the world as a whole was a functional economy. Gold and other precious metals have obvious value in that context.

When I wrote my statement about gold being useless, it was predicated on "if an economy falls apart."

Are you suggesting that gold has more use in a total economic collapse than gasoline or food?
No
I am stating that gold will have value. It always has and always will. Paper currency is worthless in a collapsing economy. I say that as I look at a 100 Trillion Zimbabwe dollar note that I bought as a novelty when I went to Africa. Yeah, they were selling their currency as a novelty. You may or may not be old enough to remember back in the 80's when McDonalds was giving out Mexican currency as a Happy Meal gift up until the Mexican government complained. That's how worthless the peso was. Look at the iconic photo of the collapse of the Weimar economy. That's not a wheelbarrow full of gold that woman is pushing. That was paper money. Neither McDonalds nor the hawkers at Victoria Falls were dumping gold coins.
I don't mean to say that bullets, beans and bandages aren't needed. They are absolutely necessary. But when you need something from the guy who has more of the 3 B's than you then you'd better have something of value to trade.
Gold/silver/gems will get you bullets, gasoline or food or passage out of the mess. You may not like the exchange rate you get, but you will get trade. Try that with paper currency or the pot metal coins we use today.

Finally, no economic collapse lasts forever. Gold and silver will also be useful, once things settle down and the rebuilding of the economy starts.
 
Precious metals are for longer term store of value, not particularly for short term emergencies. Short term, the necessary supplies for survival as outlined by several people above are important. These more immediate needs are bridging materials from one economic era to another. Small units of silver coin might be useful as a temporary means of commerce in an emergency. 100 ounce bullion bars, not so much. Precious metals tend to have a constant value over time in relation to purchasing power. Meaning over a span of at least 2,500 years.

Economies based on fiat currencies (paper money) are all doomed in the long run. Because people, businesses and governments are always trying to beat the system. The tendency is that the value of the unit is always under downward pressure. Yes, there will be upward spikes during the cycle but paper currencies always come to a bad end. Example, that's largely how it comes to be that a new Ford pickup costs $65,000. Or a house that was worth $30K in 1970 is now selling for $650K.

What form will the implosion of our currency take? Who knows for sure, but a couple of strong possibilities stand out. A sudden drop due to some crisis of confidence in the US Dollar. Or more likely a continuation of the path the US is already on, that is, gradual but unrelenting erosion of value through insidious inflation. Which is the preferred government method. It's sneaky, therefore government likes it. All the time telling us that "inflation is under control." While the Federal Reserve has a built-in policy that factors in an annual amount of inflation. This second possibility we see more clearly. However the "Big Bang" theory of a sudden drop will be without warning. By the time we know about it, it will be too late to further insulate ourselves from its effect.

The US (and world) economy is built on a tower of debt. Largely USD denominated. When the USD was still valuable, the world got addicted to using it. World finance is interwoven with the USD. The US as a nation and a society has been able to live beyond its means via world acceptance of USD domination and debt. But the value of the USD has fallen over time. Someday, the world is going to come to the inevitable conclusion that acceptance of an asset with declining value isn't the smartest thing to do.

How to store value accumulated? By selectively buying land and certain commodities and goods. Stuff that people will want to buy from you later whatever the economic climate or conditions. Somebody already said it before me, if you can't afford to get into saving deep, do it a little bit at a time.

Re. government suppression of cash. Yes, governments don't like cash because they can't control it completely. Banks don't like it because it's labor intensive and requires greater security.
 
And why is our paper currency increasingly devaluing?
Because Nixon took our currency off the gold standard. As soon as that happened, they fired up the printing presses and it was off to the races.
Consequently, IMHO, paper currency will have value only in a narrow window at the start of a collapse. People paying close attention to the situation can turn their paper into goods while people with only plastic may be turned away.
Shortly after that window, your paper currency will only be useful as the toilet paper you forgot to buy more of.
At that point it's barter and your PM's will become useful. Again, IMHO.
 

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