“Buy gold!” they say. But the more I think about it, the less logical it seems. Oh, it makes good sense for the gold dealers now, making record sales percentages based on record high gold prices. But if you DO invest in gold, what are you going to DO with it in a crisis?

There are two major issues with gold. The first is vulnerability, the second is usability.

If you buy gold, there is a record of it. If things get dicey, there is a good chance the government will confiscate what it knows about, and make it illegal for you to possess it or sell it if they do not know you have it. Gold is still tied to our financial system, even if not strongly. There is a precedent for confiscation of gold, by the government. It has happened twice in history before. And this time they have a big motive. Central banks have “leased” their gold reserves. They have them on paper, but they no longer have the actual gold. The leasees have SOLD that gold. At today’s (or tomorrow’s) prices, they can NEVER buy it back. The government is all too likely to confiscate the gold of private citizens to stabilize the havoc that particular bit of slight of hand is going to cause. This one item means that if you are going to invest in metals, go with silver or platinum, not gold. They are highly unlikely to confiscate those – especially silver, as it is so bulky in comparison, and not tied to the monetary system anymore.

If the government does not confiscate it (which I kind of doubt), SOMEONE knows you have that, you are on a list somewhere, that list WILL get out, and SOMEONE will come after it. Gold makes you a target. A bright, shiny one, for people who see it as the ultimate route to power in a meltdown. It isn’t… but they will still think so. Gold makes you very vulnerable to people who are a whole lot more determined to GET that than you will ever be to KEEP it – they are willing to not only kill, but to torture and harm your loved ones to get it.

If you manage to keep it, it may not actually be usable! In a national or global economic crash, if currency is not longer worth anything, people will NOT automatically turn to gold. For one thing, most people simply do not have it. Those who do may find it impossible to actually USE. Your average farmer who might sell you eggs or milk is simply not set up to do business on a gold standard – if there were such a thing. In an economic collapse, there won’t be such a thing. He wouldn’t have any idea how much to charge you… or how to USE what you have.

Say you have one-ounce gold coins. How do you spend two dozen egg’s worth of that? Carve off a piece?

Money is nothing more than an agreed upon unit of trade. My labor for a valuation which can then be exchanged for things I need.

When money goes away, people do not replace it with gold, which they can no more set a value on than any other useless thing. The currency of trade, becomes BARTER. Goods or services for goods or services. When money goes away, it just goes away, and is not immediately replaced.

Those eggs have more value than your gold.

You can’t eat gold. You can’t use it to stay warm.

You only really have one security. Don’t invest in gold. Invest in land. Paid for, free and clear.

Then USE the land. Get it producing. Get it to produce something that people will always need. Food, clothing, shelter. Things people will be willing to barter for in times of desperation.

Learn how to barter. Not just how to barter this thing you have for that thing you want. But how to barter this thing of value for that thing of value to barter again for another thing of value and finally barter for the thing you want.

Invest in tools of self-sufficiency. Keep a few spares.

Invest in a food storage, but don’t rely on that to save your bacon. Food storage runs out. Gardens don’t. Food storage does not reproduce. Animals do! Get your continuous supply system set up and operating. It will always have value.

The more you can do for yourself, and the more surplus you can produce, the better off you’ll be if things do get really hard. They haven’t yet – they only hint at really hard.

Don’t expect gold to save you. The land can do that much more effectively. If you feel you must invest in some kind of metal, silver is likely to be more liquid in a crisis, and while it is bulkier, it is easier to fly under the radar with it. Even then, silver is not a highly spendable item in a crisis – it is more a means of keeping your money THROUGH a crisis, until it is over. Just something to use to store funds that you don’t want to trust to the banks, which you don’t want to sink into land and other usable items.

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