[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')So you have really 2 choices:

1. Return to pre-Lincoln time.
2. Repetition of Third Reich

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')So you have really 2 choices:

1. Return to pre-Lincoln time.
2. Repetition of Third Reich

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')Yep, they will all do gardening.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')Yep, they will all do gardening.

[Serial_Worrier]

In a real post-apocalyptic doomer scenario everything becomes precarious including precious metals. Why even bother to predict what would happen under such circumstances? I'd rather be dead then be on the run from the zombie hordes until they finally chase me down made a meal of me.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')Not really.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')Not really.

[Sixstrings]

Well, gold has set a new high so what better place to post this than my "gold is useless" thread:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Gold settles at fresh record high, tops $1,350

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold on Monday rose above $1,350 an ounce, overcoming a wobbly start to post its 15th record in a little over a month. Gold for December delivery advanced $9.10, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,354.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver soared to a fresh 30-year high and copper posted its best settlement since July 2008.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-settles-at-fresh-record-high-tops-1350-2010-10-11

[Pops]

I think what everyone forgets is that in the event the world as you've imagined it ceases to exist, a new one will begin soon thereafter. I'm guessing getting your wealth over the gap is where gold is good.

But the gap where just in time isn't in time, well, that's where things get tough and where I'm not sure gold will be the best preparation - especially if its your only preparation.

Like TAE says, you'll be trading gold for little Holstein calves with nothing on their bones but hair...

I'm no one to listen too since I didn't buy any gold in the first place but if it were me and I had no supplies to get met across the "gap" I'd sell some of my bullion and invest in something useful. Of course if you are thinking you might not get the TOP price by selling today, I'm gonna say you've learned nothing in the last few years.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I')'m no one to listen too since I didn't buy any gold in the first place but if it were me and I had no supplies to get met across the "gap" I'd sell some of my bullion and invest in something useful. Of course if you are thinking you might not get the TOP price by selling today, I'm gonna say you've learned nothing in the last few years.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', ' ')Eventually a group bigger than your own will come by and take all your stuff; gold, silver, food, preps, and even the scrawny cow -- in fact, the more you have the more likely you won't have it for long.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'I') guess I wonder how they know you even have stuff they want? Or are you assuming roving bands of Zombies?

[Ludi]

Well, "what if" is fun and probably mostly harmless except I sometimes worry about people getting caught up in paranoid fantasies.

But usually I think of a lot of Peakoil.com "what if" as a version of "Premise Beach"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itbUSS-gZPc

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'I') think what TAE is getting at is that we're not fully grasping what societal collapse means. There won't be the stability required for buying and selling farms; people won't have access to credit or an organized medium of currency to facilitate much trade.

[Kristen]

First of all, death camps and slavery are not an option. I doubt anyone with a shred of morality would support such an atrocity. Instead of getting all turned on by massive slayings you should realize that these people being killed would be your friends and loved ones.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kristen', 'F')irst of all, death camps and slavery are not an option. I doubt anyone with a shred of morality would support such an atrocity.

[Puddnhead]

Over 60% of Americans are homeowners. Isn't it unlikely that property will simply disappear as a category that has some force, even if there is a rapid decline? Spend your gold on land, and get to know your neighbors. Just because our world-system is going town the toilet doesn't necessarily mean that every form of social value and every form of community will go with it.

[Pops]

I agree with you puddin, but I'll bet you a doughnut that no one here with gold has any intention of selling - the price is still rising donchno!

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kristen', 'F')irst of all, death camps and slavery are not an option. I doubt anyone with a shred of morality would support such an atrocity. Instead of getting all turned on by massive slayings you should realize that these people being killed would be your friends and loved ones.

[green_achers]

None of the zombie horde talk has anything to do with the value of gold and silver. In even a scenario involving death camps and prison farms, there could very well be an elite of wealth (in whatever form) holders who would probably value precious metals as they always have.

How about... a long time before any of that doomer porn is necessary, the government institutes a WPA-type project in which workers are bussed to farms in their area to replace some of the petro-inputs. The landowner pays for the labor with a share of the produce, which are then used to pay the workers. Having the govt as the go-between could eliminate the problems of the sharecropper system. Of course, it wouldn't have to be limited to farm work. There would be needs for human labor to take the place of all sorts of work now done with fossil fuels.

Yes, this would be a wasteful, inefficient, and probably corruptible system, but it would keep a lot of people out of the zombie category, long enough for more market-based low-energy solutions to come along.

I also found myself writing a short dissertation on the plantation system, but will instead put it in a seperate entry to make it less confusing.