Here's the thing about that....there's too much at stake for the strong hands to allow the US dollar for example to die without an alternate fiat currency being put in its place very quickly. These strong hands will do everything in their power to keep people trusting the fiat money. And since the masses already don't have trust in blobs as money, it won't take much effort for the powerful fiat money pushers to make sure the public sentiment stays as is (status quo). That's my belief. So, for all practical intents and purposes, I just don't see America returning to blobs of metal functioning as money. The only possibility is as JLiz noted; local currencies....and that will take a lot of work to get a community of any meaningful size to treat blobs as money. Gold (and silver) is an asset, not money. That's what Ben Bernanke asserts. And guess what....for all the bad policies we may be right in criticizing him for pursuing, he is right about gold in that respect as it pertains to our society today for all practical intents and purposes. .
Yes, many people fail to understand the factors that sustain the strength of the USD. As I noted previously, there are some interesting factors at play in support of US dollars:
Weirdly enough people seem to trust the government, they might not like the party in power, they might think that their prefered party would do a better job, they might disagree with some of the things that the government is doing but they show no signs of overthrowing the government anytime soon. I am not sure what the government would have to do for people to lose trust in them, sending our country men to kill and die overseas hasn't done it and I can't think of anything much worse they can do to us. Using silver as money isn't just terrorism, it's Domestic Terrorism, the worst kind there is! Very poor sentence structure there! I would prefer to say that it is unlikley that money will ever be made from silver again, rather than it will never happen. I am sad to say that it is unlikley that money will ever be made from silver again, I would like to be able to have more than a promise from a debt ridden organisation which changes hands every four years.
There is a business, that is local to me, that accepts silver for their goods. From coins to bars, they accept it all. I think most people would be surprised at how many businesses actually will accept AG/AU in payment for their goods and services. The secret is to ask!
Is silver money or a commodity? Money: a current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes; coins and banknotes collectively. Commodity: a useful or valuable thing. Clearly, silver was money in many countries in the past, but now it's a commodity. Which doesn't mean it's not useful, or not valuable, or not worth stacking. But it's not money, it's a commodity.
What business is this? What are the products / goods they will swap for blobs? They except any piece of metal that anyone claims is silver? Do they test the metal fully? How? Does this business swap goods and products for blobs from anyone who comes off the street or do you have to have an account with them, show some specific ID, or something else? Please be as specific as you can. Thanks in advance for helping me understand this better. .
As much as I like to see unconventional things like this, that's not an example of a business treating physical silver as money....that's merely a case of a business treating US gov't issued 90% silver coins as money.....it actually isn't evidence of blobs being treated as money. I guarantee you this business will accept any form of fiat US currency as money but there's a reason they don't advertise that they accept anything allegedly made of silver. I mean, are they really going to XRF analyze items of metal that people bring in that are claimed to be silver? That's what physical silver being money would have to look like. Accepting US denominated currency that happens to have some silver content is not an example of physical silver functioning as money. .
The business is a gardening supplies concern that accepts silver coins or bars for their goods. The silver coins or bars are not tested - at least not in front of anyone that I know of. An account, or ID is not required, as the silver transaction is treated as a monetary exchange. Actually, under the Australian Constitution S115 silver or gold coin is legal tender for the payment of debts. The terminology of 'blobs' is not used in the circle that I associate with, so I am not sure what you mean. Whilst there are exceptions, typically in Australia we have silver coins and bars both minted and poured. Gold products are generally also in coin or bar format also minted and poured, with some 1oz stamped 'round buttons' with the mints logo and weight etc stamped on it - perhaps this is what you are referring to?
Yes, of course, that is just an example and the reason it stands out is because it few other people are doing it. I think the shop owner is more interested in making a political statement on the way the US fiat system is headed rather than actually being interested in silver or barter. However the owners are trading on the silver content of the coin rather than the face value so they are not treating it as fiat anymore. I am sure they would go broke if that is the only form of currency they accepted, accept silver or fiat, give change in fiat. Having the government guarantee the silver content of the coins is probably a lot easier than having to XRF every random blob that comes through the door, I doubt they even weigh it. I have lost count of the number of times I have bought coins which have been sold for spot based on what Wikipedia or melt-value-calculators say they should weigh when in reality they weigh a lot less after years of wear and abuse. Now if I could use 90% US Gov issued coins in Australia to buy products it would be more impressive. We do accept 1966 50 cents in our coffee shop, last one that came through the door was when they were going for about half of what they are going for now, so it was a while back, we occasionally get a florin but that is usually a mistake, we also get Fiji and NZ coins, I don't think they are a mistake
I should clarify this as well "Never" to me means that in my remaining life time ( I am 30 currently ) I will never see this happen again. I also believe that my kids or their kids will never see this either. But my crystal ball goes foggy around here.
I might have been upset at this random comment, but then I realised you can neither read, comprehend, spell nor punctuate. You have my sympathies.
Cool! So in the very unlikely event of SHTF, I might be hungry, but I'll still be able to get a hit of smack.
Yep because many teenager's are buying silver as an investment, funny is it not? I never held a job but I have silver? YOU GOT ME HER HER HER... People like you are just plain and stupid.. I cant even get my head around people like you. "SILVER IS NOT MONEY" if silver is not money why does it have a value? I cant go and exchange silver to buy that gum in coles but I can exchange it for cash and then go buy that gum? Is your IQ so low that you couldn't come up with a simple logic like that? You are on a silver forum and bashing silver saying it's not money yet I bet all of you have silver hidden under your bed for what reason? Go back to your stocks and shares, even better go buy government bonds. Still cant get over the stupid logic that person came up with and Mr silverpete here being a white knight as usual and defending a girl, good job. I'll use a 4chan word for you since you must browse that site like crazy "BETA is going to BETA" "Go buy gum at coles with your silver, har har har har" go buy gum with your bond, share, stock, real estate and see if you can then..
No - US dollars as it has always been. I was there at the time people were being kidnapped and ransomed. No gold, no barter.
