Best way to buy and store physical PM's

[raja]

Re: Best way to buy and store physical PM's

In contrast, consider the WalMart distribution system. There is no way politicians and bureaucrats could, in their wildest fantasies, ever run a system with a fraction of its efficiency.

But the point is not how efficiently the government will run the food system. The point is that they are going to run it in a SHTF scenario. And my question is that, in a world of food and gas ration cards, will gold be useful or not?

There are not enough near-by farmers in most of the country to feed the people, since most food is now "manufactured" in large factory farms. So food will have to be distributed by the government. Forget using gold to trade for food with your local farmer unless you happen live in rural areas. But even then, will that farmer accept gold?

In the past, gold coins were used along with fiat currency, so using gold in trade would not have been a stetch. But in the modern world, nobody uses gold anymore. Whether something is considered to have value is determined by the common perception of its value, and for gold that may already have changed.

In a SHTF scenario, I don't think there would be a lot of gold coins around. How many of your neighbors have gold coins? So gold would not be a common means of exchange. If I were a farmer, and I rarely or never saw gold coins, I might be very hesitant to accept them in trade for a cow or a cabbage.

That being said, I think it would be good to have a small number of gold and silver coins as "insurance", in the small likelihood that they would be useful . . . .

[raja]

Re: Best way to buy and store physical PM's

look no further than e-gold for Exhibit A as to what can happen to paper gold.

The seizure of e-gold doesn't cause me to fear the seizure of paper gold investments, since e-gold was something very different.

e-gold was a system of "digital currency" used as "a medium of exchange offered over the Internet that was purportedly backed by precious metals and offered users another option for conducting on-line funds transfers."
e-gold was busted because it was apparently being used for money laundering.

e-gold is totally different than an ETF like GLD, which is an investment vehicle. There would be no reason for the government to shut down GLD . . . .

[dbarberic]

Re: Best way to buy and store physical PM's

How come no one has mentioned a service like Gold Money owned by James Turk?

http://www.goldmoney.com/

It is physically stored in your account in the British Channel Islands.

I've been using them for about two years and I am part of their monthly gold accumulation progam. Once in a while I wonder if I should just be holding physical, but the reputation of James Turk in the industry is very high and Jim Puplava also recommends them.

[jk]

Re: Best way to buy and store physical PM's

How come no one has mentioned a service like Gold Money owned by James Turk?

http://www.goldmoney.com/

It is physically stored in your account in the British Channel Islands.

I've been using them for about two years and I am part of their monthly gold accumulation progam. Once in a while I wonder if I should just be holding physical, but the reputation of James Turk in the industry is very high and Jim Puplava also recommends them.

there has been discussion in other threads of goldmoney and bullionbank, along with perth mint certificates. no one is really clear on what assurance there is that the gold is really there.

[Finster]

Re: Best way to buy and store physical PM's

There are not enough near-by farmers in most of the country to feed the people, since most food is now "manufactured" in large factory farms. So food will have to be distributed by the government.

This is the leap of logic that sticks in my craw. A implies B. That because there are "not enough near-by farmers" and "most food is now "manufactured" in large factory farms", the government will have therefore have to distribute the food.

It's a non-sequitor.

...

[raja]

Re: Best way to buy and store physical PM's

This is the leap of logic that sticks in my craw. A implies B. That because there are "not enough near-by farmers" and "most food is now "manufactured" in large factory farms", the government will have therefore have to distribute the food.

Sorry to have obstructed your craw ;)

The idea is that, when food is produced locally as it was in the days of yore, it is easily obtained because there is no complex chain of middlemen and transportation. In modern times food production is centralized and there is a complex chain of independent agents. This system would seize up in a scenario of runaway inflation, and the government would have to "take over".

[grapejelly]

Re: Best way to buy and store physical PM's

Sorry to have obstructed your craw ;)

The idea is that, when food is produced locally as it was in the days of yore, it is easily obtained because there is no complex chain of middlemen and transportation. In modern times food production is centralized and there is a complex chain of independent agents. This system would seize up in a scenario of runaway inflation, and the government would have to "take over".

I'm not sure that has happened in places that have experienced runaway inflation.

Reading about Weimar for instance reveals how well people handle hyperinflation. Companies still ship product, people still buy food, and the food is there for purchase. People use ingenious and inconvenient methods of dealing with hyperinflation, such as pricing a restaurant meal when you've finished eating and request the check. But commerce in some fashion continues.

In a time of runaway inflation I would envision the CBs doing the usual -- issuing a New Currency that is worth x percent of the old...

[Finster]

Re: Best way to buy and store physical PM's

Sorry to have obstructed your craw ;)

The idea is that, when food is produced locally as it was in the days of yore, it is easily obtained because there is no complex chain of middlemen and transportation. In modern times food production is centralized and there is a complex chain of independent agents. This system would seize up in a scenario of runaway inflation, and the government would have to "take over".

We are copasectic ... right up until the last eight words ... ;)