Post-Collapse Economy; Planning For What You CAN Plan For; ANYTHING BUT DOLLARS

From another thread, but I think worthy of it's own
thread:


[link to www.godlikeproductions.com]

Anonymous Coward
User ID: 260377
8/18/2007 4:24 PM Re: What WILL be left of Americans when the
money economy collapses [key read! pin this!]

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 284179
: you cant eat silver or gold coins-if things collapse far
: enough, food water and safe shelter willbe the only things
: that matter- given a choice, someone hungry or starving,
: between a bag of gold or a loaf of bread, what do you think
: theyll chose? The only way gold will be valuable is if there
: is still some skeleton of an economic/commodities distribution
: structure left-otherwise, flush your gold down the toilet-it
: will only drag you down.

Why do collapse-aware people tend to view things in such
extreme, either/or terms? That is, EITHER 1) things float
along the way they always have, OR 2) (at some point)
everything goes COMPLETELY to hell, and STAYS there,
unrecoverably, FOREVER.

The idea that we will lose functioning economies COMPLETELY
and FOREVER -- that there will be NO trading and NO money, not
even money that has been embraced as such for all recorded
hisory -- is simply absurd. People who believe that are not
using their heads. They are imagining that the only
alternative to what we have now -- the inevitable outcome of a
repudiation of what we have now -- is NO ECONOMY WHATSOEVER,
FOR ALL TIME. That is simply absurd, and unthinkable, barring
an extinction-level event or some mega-catastrophe (asteroid
hits earth? all-out nuclear holocaust FOLLOWED by asteroid
hitting earth?) that reduces the human population to 50
million barely-surviving hunter-gatherers.

I have no problem with the idea that we might lose functioning
economies for a time -- perhaps running to weeks or months.
That is a distinct possibility, and it is one of the reasons
that it is wise to have a goodly supply of food and basic
sundries in reserve. OF COURSE one should prepare oneself for
such possibilities. But the idea that, post-collapse, there
will NEVER AGAIN be a functioning economy -- no, that is going
much too far. That's just idiotic -- again, barring the VERY
SLIGHT possibility of a mega-catastrophe. But even in the case
of a mega-catastrophe that actually does decimate all
economies indefinitely: is this something that you 1) COULD
survive, and 2) would WANT to survive? If you are honest with
yourself, it is likely that the answer to question #1 is a
resounding NO. And perhaps question #2, as well. And if you
could not, and/or would not wish to, survive such a
catastrophe, then what is the point of thinking about it or
"preparing" for it? Prepare for the things that you CAN
prepare for, for gosh sakes... which are also the things that
are far, far more likely to happen.

We might (indeed, probably will, somewhere along the line)
lose functioning economies for a time. But economies and
economic functions, like trading, will reconstitute themselves
after the severest crisis period. The things of value that you
have stored and saved -- food, clothing, ammo, metals, tools,
manufactured items of all kinds, factory-packed cigs and booze
-- will have value in trade, likely a LOT of value. What will
NOT have a lot of value is the U.S. dollar!

Think: A.B.D. ANYTHING BUT DOLLARS.

ANYTHING!