Gold may not be a good investment- Link to CNN

TexasNationals

Some truth, beans do taste better

If you read the stories of people who have been there and done that, been through economic collapses, gold trading is short lived, the real commodity.

Nails
Screws
Fabric
Tools
Oil
Seeds
Ammo and Firearms
Good Knives
Booze and Cigarettes- people have their addictions
anti-biotics
painkillers
first aid supplies
Books- Survival and Fiction (to escape the reality)

Etc- things people need to accomplish daily activities, chain saw oil for cutting wood, cloth to make clothes, nails and screws for repairs or building things, powder bleach for water purification, etc.

Just my 2 cents, gold and silver is a great hedge against inflation, but for real survival people need medical supplies. Rangar Benson wrote several books on the subject and has been in no less that 7 of these scenerios.

AuAgPt

another crappy media article, cnn is one of the worst, a bunch of 28 year old writers who know little or nothing about life and history. too bad folks don't go back and read a little history, say 200 years worth, and study silver and gold cycles and mostly understand the USD devaluation that's taken place since 1913. --app

TexasNationals

Not to argue but 200 most people were self reliant and didn't have Walmart, cell phones, cable TV and basically someone to do everything they needed done in their lives. They has skillS ( carpenters, agriculture, hunting, etc) If their roof leaked they got up and fixed it, if they were hungry they hunted or slaughtered a pig then salt cured the rest, they had food stocks of 6-12 months, they did everything they needed done and gold and silver were more valuable in commerce. Now we need our oil changed, roof repaired, dinner delivered or had field mice eating their summer tomatoes we call or go to the store and get rat poison or traps, go to the supermarket, call the roof man, go to the mechanic and so on, so you can't compare 200 years ago to the way life is today. If you need your roof fixed and you give the guy a 1 ounce AGE and he takes it and hopes the lumber cutter will take it, the lumber maker will hope the tool maker takes it and the tool maker hopes the iron or steel seller will take it. You would need a 100% global conversion to precious metals and there isn't enough metal. Short term will it work, sure, but a few months in you better think twice. To me the tools and knowledge (books) are just as valuable if not more than gold and silver. Do you realize most farmers use geo seeds now? Most Gardeners? When that crop comes in and you want to replant, geo seeds won't regrow. There is a whole lot more strategy to long term economic crisis than buying a Glock and 200 ounces of silver and 50 ounces of gold, anyone that thinks that way is in serious trouble. Now the first few days of SHTF will gold and silver get me out of a jam, oh yeah, I count on it, but long term your better buying 55 gallon drums of 8 penny nails.

TexasNationals

A real-accurate list or ranked- most traded for items during economic collapses- in order of most demanded- A REAL STUDY OF VARIOUS URBAN COLLAPSES- Cuba, several south and central American countries, African and middle eastern countries.

Ammunition
soap
film
medicine
toothpaste
toilet paper
shoes
underwear
aspirin
pens
pencils
paper- to write on
cooking oil
salt
wire
wire snares
computer discs
nitrogen fertilizer
blasting caps
gloves
tape-duct
knives
sharpening stones
matches
saws
files
chain saw parts
light bulbs
garden hoses
motor oil
engine filters
gun powder
primers
bullets
canning lids
plastic freezer bags
electrical supplies
nylon rope
coffee
welding rod
batteries
lamp mantles
LP gas
flour
yeast
detergent
needles
thread
electrical tape
bleach
toothbrushes
antacid
sugar
steel wool
screws
bolts
flashlights
calcium hypo-chlorate (pool bleach, used to make bleach)
batteries
bulbs
car repair parts
tires
pepper
boot oil
shoelaces

Gold and silver are so far down I won't even go there, platinum and palladium didn't make the list. Look at the list and what does it tell you.

No bashing, this is for SHTF scenario, not hedging or investing, this is economic collapse material and fact.

Staircoins

I am surprised to see computer discs so high on the list.

jmski52

Yep, it's all that scare-mongering that drives up the price of gold. I'm sure that it has nothing to do with what they are doing to the dollar and to the economy. Sheesh.

The thing about your list, TN is that you have to have a defensible place to put all of those supplies. Precious metals are universally recognized and are transportable if need be. All that other stuff - you need a fair sized UHaul, if you can find one when all that happens.

Precious metals and survival supplies = two different sides of the same coin, preparedness.

DrBuster

<< <i>another crappy media article, cnn is one of the worst, a bunch of 28 year old writers who know little or nothing about life and history. too bad folks don't go back and read a little history, say 200 years worth, and study silver and gold cycles and mostly understand the USD devaluation that's taken place since 1913. --app >>



I was an editor, webmaster, and associate producer for cnn.com. I do not even check cnn.com anymore for news, haven't in maybe a decade.

There's maybe a 5% remotely conservative leaning editorial team in cnn as a whole. cnnmoney is worse, and it absolutely shouldn't be.

lightcycler

Need to see more articles like this. Would tend to think the correction is nearing an end.

TexasNationals

defensible place

Just about any place can be turned into a defense position, this has been proven time and time again in Iraq, Afg. Sierra Leone, Mogadishu, Chechnya, Serbia, Northern Ireland, and so on. It all comes down to planning and execution of the plan. The more time you have the better, the more knowledge you have the better, and with all the information you could ever want at you finger tips (the internet) a plan, bug out or bug in could be put together fairly quickly. I know a survivalist in a major city, who lives in a down town apartment right in the middle of everything that has a plan that blows me away. Empty lots serve as storage sights and impromptu gardens (food grown with weeds), evacuation route via of car, water and air along with subway systems and detailed maps of sewer systems (another storage spot for stuff). It just amazes me the thought and preparation who put into renting an apartment (structurally) and logistically location wise. After a few months, when things die down he has a place he plans to go and live off the land ( public property, state park) and all the supplies he needs are on site, buried, ready to go. Where there is a will, there is a way.

I love PM too, gold and silver are a good part of my portfolio and assets, I believe in them for financial stability hedge, but not as a solution for a total economic collapse, I have seen it and it doesn't work that way. Look at Iraq, after the country was freed and the gov't toppled the currency was trashed and it literally was one of the worst places to live. Many parts had no food, water, electricity, sewer systems or transportation. Iraqi's are known for having large quantities of high carat gold, especially women, the barter system that took effect between US soldier and civies and civies to civies was not PM's, no one wanted it, it was darn near worthless. I have seen a metal smith make a large gun replacement part out of gold as SS was no where to be found and it needed to be corrosion proof. He wanted SS, but no one would trade SS for gold at 3x-10 ounces of SS for 30 ounces of gold was deal no one would take. Some US soldiers took advantage, some didn't, but there were few US people on the ground in this area as it was somewhat isolated. I remember seeing soldiers trade shot out barrels from M-243's and M-240's for gold and other "services". This was the barter/trade system in place, in 2005.

Have you noticed how many dealers have Pahlavi (Iranian Gold Coins) next to the AGE's and Maple leafs, lots of them? I have been buying gold since 1997 when I was 17, and I can't remember seeing any Pahlavi's sold as bullion, a few world coin collectors had them, but they were rarer dates or issues, now look around. Where did it all come from?

TexasNationals

I am surprised to see computer discs so high on the list.

So was I, but if you think about it many second and third world countries use primary countries old stuff that is not recycled. I still see VHS and those big old DVD disc (laser-disc's) and even Beta-Max's

derryb

<< <i>but for real survival people need medical supplies. >>


One could also argue that for real survival people need God and toilet paper. But since this is not a survival forum how about we talk PMs and the issues that affect PM prices.

Edited to remove a derogatory word that was brought to my attention.

TexasNationals

PM's are included and nails are considered PM's you are just in the thinking of it in the wrong context. Where did mercenary come into play?

dpoole

Fareed Zakaria on Sunday's editorial comments made fun of the gold bubble and influx, pointing out that you can't "eat gold" and that it wasn't of much use for anything other than as a pretty bauble.

I asked the TV screen if dollar bills were any yummier to eat, but Fareed didn't answer me.

Spooly

<< <i>Fareed Zakaria on Sunday's editorial comments made fun of the gold bubble and influx, pointing out that you can't "eat gold" and that it wasn't of much use for anything other than as a pretty bauble.

I asked the TV screen if dollar bills were any yummier to eat, but Fareed didn't answer me. >>




That funny!

57loaded

<< <i>

<< <i>but for real survival people need medical supplies. >>


One could also argue that for real survival people need God and toilet paper. But since this is not a survival or mercenary forum how about we talk PMs and the issues that affect PM prices. >>





i'm gonna start a list, my own frickin' list
and those two are on it, thank-you
i'll take a community of friends and neighbors helping each other out. and no this isn't about "the village"

Quartergoldeagle

im hoarding gold plated coffee beans just be be safe

gary-

dragon

<<< Precious metals are universally recognized and are transportable if need be. >>>



Yes, that's very true. However if you've ever been to any number of Central American countries where the average citizen lives in total poverty, you'll find you can make friends a lot faster handing out bar soap, basic toiletries, and especially pain killers such as Tylenol, Advil, etc. as opposed to handing out 1/2 oz. krugerrands or 10 oz. silver bars. And these are people who are basically living the "shtf scenario" every day of their lives.

TwoSides2aCoin

good trading partners should be the first thing on the list for a SHTF scenario.

TexasNationals

Yes, that's very true. However if you've ever been to any number of Central American countries where the average citizen lives in total poverty, you'll find you can make friends a lot faster handing out bar soap, basic toiletries, and especially pain killers such as Tylenol, Advil, etc. as opposed to handing out 1/2 oz. krugerrands or 10 oz. silver bars. And these are people who are basically living the "shtf scenario" every day of their lives.

Ah, a non-mercenary who gets it! Wow, when a economy collapses we will all be living in poverty in a few weeks, no power, food goes bad, super markets empty, no more gas. Well you just keep stacking those bars and your glock and ar-15 and see how you do, jackarse (derrb)

jmski52

if you've ever been to any number of Central American countries where the average citizen lives in total poverty, you'll find you can make friends a lot faster handing out bar soap, basic toiletries, and especially pain killers such as Tylenol, Advil, etc. as opposed to handing out 1/2 oz. krugerrands or 10 oz. silver bars. And these are people who are basically living the "shtf scenario" every day of their lives.

This isn't Central America, and I'm wondering why you wouldn't already have a network of friends & neighbors before tshtf, instead of after. Of course, the point is that most people in the US are so dependent on our finely-tuned manufacturing & distribution systems that a breakdown is more likely, and also that in the event of a breakdown we could reach levels of desperation more quickly than any Central American country.

Not having been trained as a mercenary, I must report that I've managed to navigate life on my wits and planning, every bit as much as on my macho and physical training. Nothing works every time. Learn them all.

Baley

"You don't seem to want to accept the fact you're dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who's the best, with guns, with knives, with his bare hands. A man who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke. In Iraq his job was to dispose of enemy personnel. To kill! Period! Win by attrition. Well TexasNationals was the best. "

fivecents

<< <i>"You don't seem to want to accept the fact you're dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who's the best, with guns, with knives, with his bare hands. A man who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke. In Iraq his job was to dispose of enemy personnel. To kill! Period! Win by attrition. Well TexasNationals was the best. " >>

Baley..is that quote from the from the movie RAMBO ?

TexasNationals

I don't claim to be anything, I am just quoting from people I have known/met that have been there or situations I have experienced. I am not Rambo, I am just your average guy who took a different carrer path for a while and learned what I needed to so I could stay alive. If my experiences here piss people off I wills top posting, just trying to open up the subject a little more, sorry.

fivecents

Don't sweat the comments TN. I like reading your posts.

Baley

Yeah, from "First Blood"

I like the posts and the thread, too, and agree that a well-balanced portfolio of assets includes many or all of the items on the lists in this thread; I stockpile lots of the things mentioned. As I mentioned in another thread of this type, I've been ready for TSHTF for 30 years, starting just about the time this movie and "The Road Warrior" came out

I thank every day that it hasn't happened in the USA, and hope and pray (and expect) that I will die "ready" and never had to use any of it for that in 40 or 50 years.

tresgatos

" I remember seeing soldiers trade shot out barrels from M-243's and M-240's for gold and other "services". This was the barter/trade system in place, in 2005."
TexasNationals, are those, er, "other services" what I think they are?
Good thread.