Currency/money after TSHTF

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To me, consumable items, ammo, food, clothes, will become the first phase rebuilding currencies and then after (a long time after) some formal currencies will be instituted. What good is gold or silver if there is not a recognized value. To me it would be worthless but to somebody else it could be priceless. That is the whole point of barter and the the main reason for a official currency. Barter is all about "What is it worth to YOU" and currency is about an excepted value to all. If I am hungry, that egg is going to be worth a lot more to me, than that 22 Lr cartridge.
Agreed about the consumables. Things with extended shelf life like tuna, ground coffee, and socks will be popular at first, but as deterioration continues I think ammo, medicine, bottled water, and alcohol become de facto currency. Gold/silver/cash will always have its place, but like most people, you probably won't have much on hand.
 
Agreed about the consumables. Things with extended shelf life like tuna, ground coffee, and socks will be popular at first, but as deterioration continues I think ammo, medicine, bottled water, and alcohol become de facto currency. Gold/silver/cash will always have its place, but like most people, you probably won't have much on hand.

Fiat currency will be dead (aka cash) Precious metals and stones will be the rule outside of bartering.
 
It will take some time before the almighty dollar is dead. Just from the mere fact that people are accustomed to using it, and won't want to stop.

When the stock market melted down, every kind of asset in the world EXCEPT the dollar went into the crapper. Gold and all foreign currencies included. Everyone fled to US dollars as the safe haven initially.

The US dollar has no intrinsic value like gold. It really makes no sense why people would think it would be more stable than gold in a global market meltdown, but it was. That kind of thinking won't just go away overnight.
 
I agree 100% that gold and/or silver has little intrinsic value post SHTF, and--given a choice between canned food or a stash of silver coins if I was stranded on a desert island--I would, of course, opt for the canned food.

Yet I find it very difficult to disregard history.

There are many stories passed down (from my father's side of the family) about Jewish relatives who escaped concentration camps, got to board boats, and traded for food and medicine with hoarded silver, gold, and precious stones.

There was even a story about a Jew who was turning in his fellow Jews to the S.S. in exchange for continued freedom and favors . . . so hoarded gold and silver was used to finance a hit on him, and to send a lesson to like-minded cowardly bottom feeders . . . as his body was, supposedly, quite mutilated in unpleasant ways.

There are similar stories from my mother's side of the family about gold being used by her Lakota ancestors to buy guns from unscrupulous whites in order to defend their lands.

Even today in the Arab culture (and other middle-eastern societies), jewelry is used to quietly move wealth across international boundaries (and has been used in this way for over a thousand years), and to finance terrorism . . . as jewlery can't be tracked like bank transfers and money wires. Even in the USA, if the IRS comes to your house to seize your assets, it's my understanding that they can't take jewelry that you're actually wearing at the moment . . . even if you look like a walking Christmas tree.

If we take these points into consideration, then I believe that gold and silver may be more important than we give it credit for.
 
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I agree 100% that gold and/or silver has little intrinsic value post SHTF, and--given a choice between canned food or a stash of silver coins if I was stranded on a desert island--I would, of course, opt for the canned food.

Yet I find it very difficult to disregard history.

There are many stories passed down (from my father's side of the family) about Jewish relatives who escaped concentration camps, got to board boats, and traded for food and medicine with hoarded silver, gold, and precious stones.

There was even a story about a Jew who was turning in his fellow Jews to the S.S. in exchange for continued freedom and favors . . . so hoarded gold and silver was used to finance a hit on him, and to send a lesson to like-minded cowardly bottom feeders . . . as his body was, supposedly, quite mutilated in unpleasant ways.

There are similar stories from my mother's side of the family about gold being used by her Lakota ancestors to buy guns from unscrupulous whites in order to defend their lands.

Even today in the Arab culture (and other middle-eastern societies), jewelry is used to quietly move wealth across international boundaries (and has been used in this way for over a thousand years), and to finance terrorism . . . as jewlery can't be tracked like bank transfers and money wires.

If we take these points into consideration, then I believe that gold and silver may be more important than we give it credit for.
Yes, they're good for long-term game-over SHTF, if you're lucky enough to last that long. But during the first years of a crisis, procurement of consumables takes the cake.

I could see gun parts also becoming very valuable -- BCGs for rifles, springs/spare parts for Glocks, gunsmith tools.
 
Yes, they're good for long-term game-over SHTF, if you're lucky enough to last that long. But during the first years of a crisis, procurement of consumables takes the cake.

I could see gun parts also becoming very valuable -- BCGs for rifles, springs/spare parts for Glocks, gunsmith tools.
What is a "BCG" for a rifle?
 
I'm not afraid to go out on a limb and say that the only 'currency'
Buying anything but physical gold and silver which you can take home in form of a coin or bar: IS GOING OUT ON A LIMB! The rest is only digital and can be "erased", lost, hacked and stolen or just no longer accessable thru the loss of electricity....only invest in TANGIBLES....GP
 
Precious stones and metals will always have value. Barter works well as long as what you have is deemed of relatively equal value by the person your bartering with. If you need boots, but only have ammo and eggs, and the guy that you find that has boots also has lots of ammo and eggs, your screwed. Boot guy wants apples, so now you find a lady with apples, but she wants liquor, you find a guy with liquor, but he wants tobacco, you find a guy with tobacco who wants ammo, but not terribly, so he wants way more .22 bullets than you think it's worth... the chain goes on. With silver or gold, everyone gets what they want without spending tons of time looking for a match, and they can get what they want today with the promise that the other party can get what they want in the future... hard currancy is just that, it's hard, its tangible, you can actually hold it in a safe. There's no expectation that some government is propping it up with a promise.
 
Ammo, Gasoline, Diesel, Coffee, Inhalers, Silver, Heritage seeds, Smoked / Dried meats, Spirits like whiskey, Baby Formula, Antibiotics, oh and Insulin.
No chocolate and No sex toys anymore???????????

don't wanna prep with you anymore, all work and noooooooooooooo fun!!
 
chocolate,hell yes!!
about those metals,sure,they have value now,some value maybe in and after shtf,but in earnest,it's only metal,you can't eat it and it's worth something
as long as humans wanna give it some value, personally I'd take a huge block of iron,from which I can make tools, useful ones and could trade those tools
for something I need,you don't make tools from gold or silver,just my 2 cents
 

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