You can't eat gold

[catmandu57]

For everyone catching the goldbug, it'd be better not too put all of your eggs in one basket. If things go to hell then you'll probably get hungry and thirsty long before you find someone willing to part with food for gold.

Ask some of the folks here who went through the devaastation in the gulf last fall, I'm sure they'll tell you that they would rather have had food and drink than to sit on a box full of gold.

Buy some if you really have to, but, you better take a few hundred and stock up on canned goods, water, and essential health care products.
You better buy a camp stove or something that will cook your food, if you have pets don't forget them, get some extra food for them.

if things pass over and there isn't any trouble you can always donate what you don't want to a local foodbank and laugh about it later.

[BlackHeart]

1. Are there people

saying that we should spend our grocery money on gold?

[MADem]

2. Buy low, sell high

Anyone buying now is getting on the bandwagon WAY too late. If you have a gold wedding ring, or a few gold chains, hold on to them, and you can trade them for a loaf of bread if things get real bad.

That said, your advice to always have a stock of nonperishables on hand is sound. Don't forget the OTC medicines, and of course, your favorite booze and TOILET paper--one does like those luxuries!

[TAPat]

5. Damn!

I'm working on my "Emergency Room" as we speak and I totally forgot about the booze!!!!:crazy:
Thanks for reminding me - I could live for a long time without food and water, but BEER, no way!:beer:

[MADem]

11. And don't forget chocolate for the ladies...the ladies like that chocolate

It's how happy families stay happy!

[paparush]

28. and silk stockings...and cans of shoe polish

[Wcross]

31. Make sure you rotate your beer stocks......

Booze lasts a lot longer in storage. Beer tends to go bad if stored for long periods. You're going to have to make a sacrifice and replenish your supply every two-three months. I can come over and help you take care of the stuff you pull out of storage.

[TAPat]

45. Thanks for the offer, but

I have no problem rotating my supply no matter how large it is!!! Just ask my belly! :toast:

[Wcross]

46. It was worth a shot....n/t

[Squatch]

10. Next best thing: Dollar Cost Averaging

through periodic, recurring investments in solid equity instruments.

[havocmom]

3. Have always wondered what was so important about gold

As you pointed out, one cannot eat it. It is pretty but soft and not especially useful to make tools needed to GROW food or drill for water.

Watching one of those UFO speculation shows recently, there was mention of space travelers possibly using gold as some sort of fuel. Hmmm, thought I, THAT might have been why early man came to the conclusion it was a good thing. I sure don't see a lot of practical applications (besides vane adornment) for our ancestors. Sure, now, it has some technical value, but back in the day? :shrug:

Camp stove, water, blanket in the car and an easy to grab box of canned goods (and an opener) make more sense than gold to me too.

Seeds are good for long range disaster planning too.

[The2ndWheel]

7. Isn't it nuts though?

How gold has all this "worth", simply because we give it that much "worth". Just think of all the people who didn't value gold as much as the next guy, but ended up dying because that other guy knew its "worth", whether they became a slave to mine it, or murdered because they lived on top of it.

A dollar bill is simply a green tinted piece of paper. Someone figured they should make that worth something, and now nobody can get enough of them. If you don't have that tinted paper, you can't survive in today's reality. See how far we've come?

[SheilaT]

12. Among the reasons societies

value gold, is that it is very easy to work, and does not tarnish.

I once read that something like 95 percent plus of all gold ever mined is up on the surface of the planet being worn, or tucked away as coins or bullion. Only a tiny percentage has been lost or remains buried as in with dead people.

[havocmom]

15. Yeah, it's pretty and hammers out nice. But that is all vanity

Gold is just for show: I have enough food that I can fool around digging for this stuff and then play with it. Then used to show power: I have guys who will give me this stuff, so I must be real powerful & important (the beginnings of the political con game).

But when you get down to basic human needs, it is pointless. There is no value to it for survival.

When I'm in charge, we go on the Oatmeal Cookie Standard! If food gets too pricey, people can at least eat the currency :D

[genie_weenie]

19. Incorrect. Gold does have chemical and mechanical uses

It has excellent malleability and ductility. It can transmit a current almost as well as copper (copper being the best of the non-super conductors ) Gold can be used to reflect the suns rays (sungalsses/cool your home) or amplify them (burn things/create fire/cook) gold can also be used to deflect alpha, beta and gamma rays(that's radiation)...

So, gold does have uses besides looking good or your wife/husbands finger.

[havocmom]

29. Like I said in my first reply, it has technical uses NOW,

But not way back when it acutally became famous

[genie_weenie]

33. Well, even back then Ancient Man (edit)

and other believed gold to have mystical properties. Gold didn't corrode, it easily combine with other elements, as I stated it can be bent or hammered into many shapes. Gold was considered the perfect noble metal (similar to how the circle was the perfect geometrical figure) and many people believed gold to have curative effects, either through imbibing it or having it on their bodies. This is why brass was made, to ancients it seemed gold like and therefore would be classified by their thought processes as a type of gold.

Gold has been used crowns for teeth (I'm not sure when) since it doesn't corrode.
Gold was used as thread for clothing.

And back in the 600s BCE, gold was used as a stand in for cattle, because people everywhere agreed that a ounce of gold was worth x (Cattle, linen, cotton whatever). And it was inconvenient to have to carry around 10 tons of wheat to buy the shoes, mattocks and other items you wanted. Of course, in certain areas an amount of gold might get you more of an item, less of an item or none of item.

Now, it's true to Hunter gather societies, iron or leather may be more valuable than gold, but I just have to disagree with you that it was capriciousness that human society adopted gold.

Edit to remove alchemists and make it more than just them.

[havocmom]

35. Re Alchemists: They, too, came long after gold was already famous

or they wouldn't have bothered.

[MADem]

39. Wasn't it used in medicine as well? n/t

[genie_weenie]

43. Yes,

ancient peoples believed it had a curative effect this was an unscientific belief even though, gold isotopes are in fact used to treat bone marrow cancers today. Ancient Man believed gold to be very special stuff.

[SheilaT]

48. Yes, it's just for show.

But that's exactly the point. To me one of the fundamental universals about being human is the inclination to make things prettier than they need to be. We ornament ourselves, our buildings, our tools, everything around us. Even streamlined, simple things, are made to someone's aesthetic of attractiveness. Gold ornaments are almost universally considered attractive. Just because you personally find that to be at best a peculiar affectation, doesn't alter things.

All that said, and while I personally love jewelry in all its forms, I've never understood gold fever in the form of rushing out to buy gold, obsessed with the idea that in the apocalyptic future it will be the only thing that will stand between me and survival.

And if we go to a Cookie Standard, I'm sure my famous chocolate chip cookies will be far more valuable than your Oatmeal Cookies :9

[TallahasseeGrannie]

4. My inlaws lived through

post-war Germany and gold was the only "money" worth anything. They had a box of gold in their basement for years and we were always worried someone will kill them for it. They finally sold it all, I think. But they told me they once paid a month's rent with a watch. I guess that sort of thing scars you.

[catmandu57]

6. I'm not saying not to buy it

Just make sure you don't put all of your resources into something that may not help all that much. I just think I'd rather take care of my phyisical needs first.

[stop the bleeding]

8. Bonds are pretty secure as far as a return on the investment

options are also good if you know how to set the trades correctly, but even now the volatility that option trades thrive off of is not what it once was.

I have been studying the market(s) for a while and think people better learn how to sell short in the up and coming months if they would like to get good returns on their investments.

Gold is solid but I don't think it has a whole lot of room to grow right now.

Thanks for giving people a pause before they start making knee jerk reactions with their assets.

[catmandu57]

13. I'm talking about absolute chaos

No law, no government, everyone for themselves type scenario, any kind of investment other than what you have on hand at the time is going to be worth doodly squat.

[stop the bleeding]

14. sorry

I would invest in guns then, seriously when things get that extreme sometimes you need extreme measures to counter extreme situtations, I am not one for this type of thing but if it did go to hell in a hand basket I feel that a gun would not be a bad option at that time.

Thanks again for keeping people level headed and sorry about the mix up

[ThomWV]

9. Pets You say?

"if you have pets don't forget them, ..."

If you are at the point where gold won't buy food you may safely assume that pets food will not be your greatest concern.

[havocmom]

17. But a couple of meaty dogs might be handy

And worth more than their weight in gold.

[genie_weenie]

16. you can't eat crude oil or glass or shag rugs either

if it comes to the point were gold is no longer at all valuable (first time since the Pre-Dynastic Egyptians) then we have bigger problems and everyone should be making sure the have plenty of powder and cartiridges...

[havocmom]

18. Ah, there's a dose of reality!

:thumbsup:

[catmandu57]

20. You can add guns to the survival kit

Put anything you want in there, I have ready access to all the guns and ammo we'll need. If this is all bluster ( which I'm inclined to believe it is) then there won't be a need for any of this stuff.

[jukes]

21. stock up on dimes

8 to 10 will load into a 12 GA shot-shell, and you can pretty much aquire all your need w/ a couple of boxes of those!

[Wcross]

32. Unless your opponent has a rifle..........n/t

[jukes]

34. then you pick some1 else

duh!

[newportdadde]

22. Well in the past it provided a measure of exchange instead of bartering.

Barter economies aren't exactly the most efficient. Gold became a very easy to use method of exchange with each item/service being worth X amount of gold.

The only way to create more gold was to find it, not like today were the dollar is the method of exchange and you can always just print more. Gold is an inflation fighter.

Whats interesting is that even in something like online gaming which often start as a barter driven economy the players on their own will try to find a common exchange item. Getting nerdy here but in an old online game called Diablo2 this became the Stone of Jordan a fairly rare item. Of course as more and more came about via finding or cheating inflation went rampant. Anyways I just find it interesting we naturally gravitate towards that type of system.

Personally I do not think Gold is the best investment right now because its become to mainstream but who knows, I'm staying with oil because we sure as hell aren't making more of it and we do need it.

Your right though you can't eat it.

[jukes]

23. reefer

might work better. also, it's lighter.

[catmandu57]

26. That's my way of thinking

Besides it's value as a drug it's also medicinal, my garden is growing as I speak.

[jukes]

27. fucking DHS/Customs has been microwaving my seeds!

think i've got a work-around, though!!!

[Wcross]

38. Ixnay on the garden!!!!!!!!

That isn't something I would talk about on a public message board. I would hate to see you become another victim of the "war on drugs".

[jukes]

40. Oh, Agent Mike

know's were just kidding!

[tandot]

24. I saw a report on CNN money about it. The price is high because

of increased trading activity and speculative investments. That particular investor warned that the price is artificially high and people who jump in might be playing with fire. I don't know enough about investing in gold but it didn't sound like he encouraged people to invest.

That is, of course, only one opinion about it. Some probably say it is a good investment. I don't know. But I personally would not invest in it.

Here is an article about it:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P143800.asp

[MADem]

By low, sell high

This isn't the first time there's been a "gold craze" and odds are good it won't be the last.

[catmandu57]

25. Think New Orleans a couple of days after Katerina

then multiply that across the nation, that's what I'm talking about. The immediate aftermath of catastrophe, after a period of time then gold will be worth something, put some away somewhere safe for then, but, be ready to deal with sudden collapse of social structure.

[demgurl]

30. I have the exact opposite problem.

I am fully stocked on drinks and food but need to take care of the currency issue - which is what I got started on last night. I am actively trying to sell a bunch of stuff on Ebay and what I will do from there I am not sure.

The food just is not a problem the way I live with coupons, sales and my job. We also have enough toilet tissue/toothpaste/feminine products to go for about a year, maybe a year and a half without buying any. We are very lucky.

[Wcross]

36. One of my friends is convinced the end is near- Crazy.

This guy has been reading all the conspiracy sites on the web and has become a "survivalist". He isn't too bright about financial matters, always cashing out his 401k when he changed jobs (frequently). I was talking to him the other day, he has been at the same employer for two years now so his 401k had built up a little bit. He cashed it in, paid a 50% penalty with tax and bought silver at 10 dollars an ounce. He is sure it will go to 60 dollars. It will have to go to 20 just to break even. I just shook my head in wonder.
I guess he will never retire.

[debbierlus]

37. Exactly

Why not stock up on barrels of rice, water purfication unit, seeds for the garden, canning materials, fishing poles, and other goods?

It can't hurt.

[jukes]

41. AND

ammunition...

[baby_mouse]

42. And some nice, hard crossword puzzles.

And a good book.

[Wcross]

44. I have it made......

Just installed a back-up hand pump on my well that goes to my pressure tank. I have 15 acres of land to work with, 3 acres of trees and the remainder good fertile pasture land. I have a large garden and some chickens. I have to improve the fencing so I can add a couple of hogs and a cow or two.

[catmandu57]

47. Then you're in pretty good shape

We're not as well fixed, but, better than most. Unless something really nasty circulates we'll manage.

Books: lots and lots of books, the classics, how tos, textbooks, someone has to keep the memories of the before time.

[Kailassa]

49. You can eat gold.

Gold is quite edible in the tiny quantities you get on certain foods and cakes decorated in gold foil. It is also an ingredient in several ayurvedic medicines.