Put it this way, if the point is reached where guns and ammo become the most valuable commodities, we've hit Mad Max conditions and all bets are off.
Another point about gold/silver etc - or a disadvantage to be considered at any rate - is that their value is highly mutable depending on the circumstances. In short: you need a plan both to acquire the gold and then shift it, fast, when a safe currency comes back online.
Take an episode of Venezuelan or Zimbabwean hyperinflation. Historically -- and again, John Reed's books offer a blunt, empirical analysis of the issue -- hyperinflation of this kind typically lasts between 18 months and 3 years. Eventually the government gives up trying to make people use shit currency and is forced to issue a currency built on something real; this is how Germany finally climbed out of the Weimar Republic episode.
But this has implications for value as well. Anyone holding cash at the start of a hyperinflationary episode can be literally fucked overnight. But what's less observed is that the same people who are making out like bandits during hyperinflation - gold holders, smugglers, black marketers - are equally fucked the moment a currency that people trust is issued. In all cases of hyperinflation, this eventually happens. It took place in the Weimar Republic, it started taking place when Mugabe finally had a lucid moment and legalised trading in American currency again. Gold's value fluctuates. When conditions reach stability, people ditch gold just as quickly as they picked it up, which causes its price to crash. Thus, unless you pick your moment very carefully, it's still possible to survive the onset of hyperinflation but be destroyed upon recovery. You need a plan for getting in and getting out.
Another point about gold/silver etc - or a disadvantage to be considered at any rate - is that their value is highly mutable depending on the circumstances. In short: you need a plan both to acquire the gold and then shift it, fast, when a safe currency comes back online.
Take an episode of Venezuelan or Zimbabwean hyperinflation. Historically -- and again, John Reed's books offer a blunt, empirical analysis of the issue -- hyperinflation of this kind typically lasts between 18 months and 3 years. Eventually the government gives up trying to make people use shit currency and is forced to issue a currency built on something real; this is how Germany finally climbed out of the Weimar Republic episode.
But this has implications for value as well. Anyone holding cash at the start of a hyperinflationary episode can be literally fucked overnight. But what's less observed is that the same people who are making out like bandits during hyperinflation - gold holders, smugglers, black marketers - are equally fucked the moment a currency that people trust is issued. In all cases of hyperinflation, this eventually happens. It took place in the Weimar Republic, it started taking place when Mugabe finally had a lucid moment and legalised trading in American currency again. Gold's value fluctuates. When conditions reach stability, people ditch gold just as quickly as they picked it up, which causes its price to crash. Thus, unless you pick your moment very carefully, it's still possible to survive the onset of hyperinflation but be destroyed upon recovery. You need a plan for getting in and getting out.
Remissas, discite, vivet.
God save us from people who mean well. -storm