| Ya, I believe the world central bankers aren't going to get religion over nite, go back to a gold standard, declare their toxic debts for all to see, and start acting responsibly. They'll maintain their fiat currencies (control) as long as they can, and they'll find a way to stomp on anything (gold) that gets in the way. When things get desperate, gold may not be the medium of exchange everywhere, if ownership isn't high in a given area - burned IOUs on a piece of bark may suffice. Seems I read that actually was used during the depression in California or one of the other states. Or, in your case, smoked coho or bear pelts (-vbg-) What you have to have in desperate times is any kind of "coinage" that people agree locally will constitute a medium of exchange, since in desperate times the national government won't be fully functional and it will not be "business as usual." Other things that bother me about gold: it's SO easy for a government to confiscate and there's historical precedent. If they don't confiscate it, there will be games played if you want to sell it, along the lines of the games being played now by the buyers of gold jewelry - they don't give you fair value in exchange. That's BEFORE the government tax you'll pay when you sell it. Same if the government confiscates it. you're not going to get fair value. If you're looking at gold strictly as an inflation hedge, it's fine as long as there's a functional market to trade it, either as paper or the actual commodity. Once it goes into permanent backwardation, everyone's focused on "Oh, goody, I've got gold and now you can't buy it in USD". They haven't really thought about: "Can I trade it, where's the market, can I get it there, and what can I get for it?" Who really knows, though? |
