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Sure, they have seen this very scenario unfold over and over. And they assure us that democracy is much more fragile than we think.

But what do they know. GOAT assures us everything will be fine, since that's what his gut says. And you listened to a podcast, so you know better.

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Link: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2023/10/future-democracy-rests-civic-bargain

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He kills democracy, right?

How will you put food on the table for your family?

I hear Amazon is hiring.

You are probably voting for the same person.

I think our democracy is fucked, ya know, because I would short it.

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Liberalism Rule #8 - TotallyDifferentism - when we do something that we don’t like others doing, it is always “totally different”.


He pointed to his own appointed experts and wouldn’t listen to mine. But now, that doesn’t apply us anymore, does it?

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Never gets old.

Problem is, we have a democratic republic precisely because the experts are not trustworthy.

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Education continues to be the dividing line between followers of these candidates.

The left wishes to destroy the experts who have the opinions they don't like, it's anti-science and anti-democratic.

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I'm reminded of Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:

1) Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

2) The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person. (Importantly, this is without regard to level of education. Cipolla, a Berkeley professor, found stupidity even at the highest levels of academia...in other words, among the "experts.")

3) A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

4) Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

5) A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.


The reason we have separation of powers in our democratic republic is because we cannot guarantee that a a bandit (see chart below) will gain power. So, when one does (not if, but when) become president, Congress and the Supreme Court can restrain the amount of damage he or she creates. But, we have seen during the Biden administration what happens when a stupid person becomes president. Again, the damage can be restrained. But, I'm not sure the system is up to 8 years of such restraint.


Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_M._Cipolla

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And, the new gold, crypto has even less practical value. SMH.

Are you a Jewish family trying to survive the holocaust by bribing rail conductors and border guards to let you pass into a safe country? Gold might help a lot in that survival scenario. They may not be interested in German Marks in France, but a gold coin might get you moving toward safer territory.

If you are talking starvation for everyone (some kind of global nuclear holocaust scenario), then yeah, chickens and water filters and air filters would be more valuable than gold coins.

In a financial panic with banks going on extended holidays, with a collapse of the US dollar due to overwhelming US national debt? Gold might have a lot of value.

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I'm saying gold, but this works for silver as well, which stores much smaller increments of wealth. A tenth ounce of gold is currently valued at $263 (ish). A pre-1964 US silver dime is worth about $2.25.

So, gold is better for storing wealth until a new currency is established (e.g., for when the NUSD replaces the USD...something which has happened in many countries, whereby they basically chop off zeros of worthless currency, so it costs $1 for a loaf of bread instead of $10,000). Gold is good for buying vehicles, and for bribing (when there is no rule of law anymore). Silver is better for buying food or tools or repair services. If we've broken down to pure barter, than your "short of democracy" likely failed, unless you bought a cabin in the woods, and stocked it with weapons and food. But, the cabin is a bigger commitment to the short than buying a few ounces of gold and putting them in a safe somewhere. Gold is easy, if costly. If your short turns out to be wrong, and the country marches on (as we all hope it will do), it is easier to unwind your gold position than to sell weapons and bags of wheat.

I think when it goes bad, it goes really bad. Or, put another way, I am most concerned about when gold is worthless, so if I am hedging...

But my greater point is that the "hedgers" buying gold or crypto seem kind of silly to me. They could be right, of course, but that would require the big money to fail flat on their face and totally. So take 2008 for example, the play would have been to have cash, not gold.

1) More government, less freedom. Probably more spending. Possible failure of the dollar. Gold may be illegal, but it will still hold wealth. (This is what I believe the the Democrat elites are marching us towards, and why I oppose them.)

2) The French Revolution in America, with people hanging from light posts at intersections with signs hung around their necks. The fighting won't be like the Civil War, with pitched battles in fields. It definitely won't be pretty. Not sure how to prepare for that.

I can't decide which one of those two Chris94 fears most. I'll let him comment if he wants.

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If the biggies can save themselves, like they did in 2008, then you are not talking about a survival situation. Granted, it might be nice for people to have some physical cash on hand...to diversify from digital cash, for short term situations.

Gold might pay more of a role in a true financial panic (with people jumping out of windows on Wall Street). We've had those before in this country, more than once.

As for me, I would never commit to one answer. Diversity is the key. You can't predict what will happen. Buy a little of everything, then see what happens. Based on my posts above, you might think I'm a big gold guy, but I know that if there is a financial panic, and the dollar goes to zero, I will lose most of my wealth. Most of my wealth is stored in digital dollars in my investment accounts.

I let the pros (my cousin) manage my portfolio, which I view as mythical wealth. It's mythical, but I've invested between 8 and 20% of my income into it for 20+ years (most of my working life). And it has done well, and in a world of mythical finance, I feel really good about my financial freedom. I went from mythically poor to mythically rich.

But I don't really feel any more secure or prepared to weather a storm, natural disaster or political calamity.

Maybe I need to invest in physical water filters like you said, ha!

But if mythical wealth is your aim, stocks seem to be the better option long term than gold or crypto. Or youove to cash like Buffet in anticipation of a buying opportunity (stocks).

But you proposed a scenario in which that might not be the case, in which our government fails.

You asked why we value gold, and that is a good question. A better question is why do we value paper currency.

We value fiat currency because of the strength of the government behind it. What if that government fails--your scenario? The paper currency falls to a value of zero.

Gold coins, on the other hand, have always retained their value regardless of the government that coined them, and regardless of that government failing to recognize them as currency. You can easily buy French and British gold coins that are no longer legal tender in those countries, but they still hold their bullion value. Gold has been used as money for thousands of years, while fiat currencies have come and gone. Why is gold still valuable? I don't know. But, it has never really failed, I don't think...whereas every country that has ever existed has failed at some point except for the ones that exist now, and I don't think our current countries are anything magical.

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If I must pick one, then gold. Gold is the "gateway drug" to art.

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