Overstock.com Has A Bunker Full Of Gold, Silver, And Food In Case Of Financial Collap

Draax said:
I could be mistaken but currency is largely defined by common usage. A couple people using item X, while a couple others use item y, while still yet more people use item Z would not meet the definition of a currency. Barter =/= currency
Click to expand...

It's a small sample. My point is when you get a market where individuals only trade what they have, how do they trade with someone who doesn't want what they have? They find something that the majority are willing to accept, even if they don't need it. Because they know they can use this new instrument to get what they need. What that instrument is can change over time in a dynamic market.

If the entire history of world currencies was wiped from history and our collective minds, we would find our way back to it with some sort of instrument. The instrument may not be gold or paper, but it would serve the same basic purpose. Everyone insisting otherwise is ignorant of history and economics.
 
aardvark sandwich said:
It's a small sample. My point is when you get a market where individuals only trade what they have, how do they trade with someone who doesn't want what they have? They find something that the majority are willing to accept, even if they don't need it. Because they know they can use this new instrument to get what they need. What that instrument is can change over time in a dynamic market.

If the entire history of world currencies was wiped from history and our collective minds, we would find our way back to it with some sort of instrument. The instrument may not be gold or paper, but it would serve the same basic purpose. Everyone insisting otherwise is ignorant of history and economics.
Click to expand...

In order to trade with someone who doesn't want what they have, I can only assume they would need to trade with someone else, in order to get something that the original person wants.

I believe it is an assumption that we would return to some different kind of currency. I believe people would be very weary to return to a system of currency if the current system broke down.
 
Everyone claiming gold and silver are worthless in a post apocalyptic scenario, I don't think that's necessarily what we're going to be facing. We haven't really done anything to curtail Wall St. since the last financial crisis, there's bound to be another one, arguably worse than the Great Depression. I think THAT'S the scenario having gold and silver is great for. Afterall, precious metals didn't exactly lose value after 1929.
 
Draax said:
In order to trade with someone who doesn't want what they have, I can only assume they would need to trade with someone else, in order to get something that the original person wants.
Click to expand...
Person A really, really needs what person B has. He has to entice person B to trade. He does this by figuring out what Person B wants. Since Person B is the only local who has what Person A wants, Person A is willing to trade with Person C, since Person B is happy to have what Person C produces. Person B can trade with Person C directly, sure. But he is not going to shun Person A when Person A provides him with the same product as Person C. It is of no consequence to Person B.

Over time, these type of preferences are learned in the local market. It doesn't happen in 5 minutes, but it does happen.

Draax said:
I believe it is an assumption that we would return to some different kind of currency. I believe people would be very weary to return to a system of currency if the current system broke down.
Click to expand...
The paper currencies brake because they are debased. Every time. That is the appeal of the gold standard.
 
Deflationary metal based currencies have booms and busts as well. And since moving away from those standards since the 30s the world has done pretty damn well. A deflationary currency is a horrible device as it is a massive disincentive to spend or invest. Why would I want to spend $10 today if it's worth $11 tomorrow?
 
tetris42 said:
Everyone claiming gold and silver are worthless in a post apocalyptic scenario, I don't think that's necessarily what we're going to be facing. We haven't really done anything to curtail Wall St. since the last financial crisis, there's bound to be another one, arguably worse than the Great Depression. I think THAT'S the scenario having gold and silver is great for. Afterall, precious metals didn't exactly lose value after 1929.
Click to expand...

There's kinda a disconnect here. Some people are saying after some super-mega-icky-apocaplyse there won't be any value in precious metals and other people are saying that in some huge-scary economic decline that precious metals will have value. Those are basically different thingies.

If like we go all Fallout-ish with radroaches and super mutants, yeah existing currency and moolah will end up not having value until some kinda group becomes powerful enough locally or globally to apply a new standard. Until then, rare metals might be useful, but prolly not while people are worried about survival at a super basic level.

On the other hand, if you have like a buncha moolah and stock markets collapse or whatever, precious metals are kinda nice to have around as an investment hedge. That's more of what it smells like Overstock is doing. Like they're prepared for minor disasters and disruptive, but not world ending economic problems.
 
Everything has cycles, yes.

The 'wellness' precede more violent bubble bursts. The market signals are distorted and you have mass malinvestment. (See real estate bubble)

You have just universally condemned deferred consumption, a critical function of an economy, and endorsed malinvestment in a single stroke.
 
Not in the slightest. Deferred consumption does not require a deflationary currency, and can also result in malinvestment.
 
aardvark sandwich said:
US total debt: $65,914,585,999,999
http://www.usdebtclock.org/

(by the time i post this it will be off by hundreds of thousands of dollars)
Click to expand...


Unfunded liabilities are @ 127 Trillion FRNs & counting. Rome is in burning & PPL are watching the game.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspi...ral-unfunded-liabilities-exceed-127-trillion/


Although the battle over a two-year budget deal and the national debt limit in Washington, D.C. has received the lion’s share of media attention recently , the bigger, more ominous threat facing taxpayers are unfunded liabilities—the difference between the net present value of expected future government spending and the net present value of projected future tax revenue, particularly those associated with Social Security and Medicare.

While federal unfunded liabilities are important, state-level unfunded pension liabilities also pose serious obstacles. In Texas, the recent 2013 Employees Retirement System (ERS) Valuation Report outlines the funding shortages this pension system faces and there is some indication it may be unable to pay beneficiaries by 2052.

The federal unfunded liabilities are catastrophic for future taxpayers and economic growth. At usdebtclock.org, federal unfunded liabilities are estimated at near $127 trillion, which is roughly $1.1 million per taxpayer and nearly double 2012’s total world output.
 
Debt and money aren't wealth, they are claims on wealth.

Would things get fucked up if debt got written down and have impacts on wealth? Many, yes.

But don't confuse the two overall; gasoline in your car won't fail to combust, and your car won't fail to turn on if the debt is inflated away.
 
that isn't the concern.

who will lend to the united states when we go full-on weimar?
 
SilverSliver said:
Totally. I'm trying to survive, build a life for my family. I'm going to trade some parts for a gold bar? No, I'm going to trade some parts for some gasoline, or some canned food, or some seeds, or some ammunition.

Gold has value because people says it does, and it's a luxury item. It's not useful. It does not help in a survival society.

After a while when SHTF, and society begins to return to some sort of normalcy, will gold have value once again? Of course.
Click to expand...

I understand primary needs. If something goes wrong on a large scale not everyone is going to have something like that to barter with.

Its just my guess that gold/silver will be a valuable secondary commodity if SHTF. Who knows what will happen in a crisis situation? Why do you think large corporations and wealthy individuals stockpile it as well as Governments?
 
Oh and the guy with the bullets, gets the food and water
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top