(09-30-2023, 06:16 AM)Ninurta Wrote:(09-30-2023, 05:29 AM)Grace Wrote: @"Snarl"#9 - I don't understand the precious metals thing unless it's brass which has an actual use for someone...
People will barter what they have for what they need until society rebuilds, or in any black market for those living outside of "society".
Gold and silver don't have that value to me, because I can't eat 'em, but lots of folks take a different view of things.
in colonial Virginia, hard money was hard to come by, so it was a regular occurrence for folks to get paid in tobacco instead
The thing about gold and silver, or any other medium of exchange, is that it has value for some
The value of a thing is defined ONLY by the value others place on it.
Since the troops were getting paid one shilling and six pence a day, that musket they took was worth 13 1/3 day's marching or fighting. In modern terms, if one gets paid 500 dollars a week, that's $1333.00 worth of firearm
It's a "medium of exchange" ... and it doesn't weigh a lot compared to what one needs to get by on for a few days. Like most of us, gold and silver are valueless dead weight if they don't serve as that "medium of exchange". The value they can represent right now can't be controlled by the gooberment. You can mint your own coins with ease and these are just as valuable (actually, quite a bit more) than the gooberment's coins with a false face value stamped in to them.
One simply needs to reason out what that worth is, whether it's in the form of a Troop's pay or a cowboy's daily earnings. I'd hate to have to lug around a thousand pounds of tobacky (damn ... that's a lot of leaf!!) to any potential trade ... which might just fall through.
Best to have some trade-worthy metals on hand for SHTF.
@"Grace"#140 My hope was that people would look at what I wrote and takeaway that in this economy it's damn near impossible to set aside anything for the day the rains come. You could get a ten dollar gold piece for ten days worth of work as a cowboy. You might not collect that wage until you rode in off the range. Figure you're out riding for three months and you come in and collect $18,000 worth of gold in today's markets. You're going back out in a couple weeks ... and unless you've blown it ... that's all savings.
Who can do that these days? Nine gold coins floating in your pockets. No income tax. No inheritance taxes. It's a simpler world we're getting to and it's possible to be there already. "He who has the gold ... makes the rules wears the Vice Lord's Crown!!"
