Posted on 02/21/2009 2:47:20 AM PST by blueplum
Juggling glasses of white wine and baggies filled with baubles, dozens of women descended on a well-appointed Orange County home this week to trade in their old golden treasures for hefty checks.
There were earrings from ex-boyfriends, ring settings with missing stones and chain bracelets from sorority sisters. One woman brought in her husband's wedding ring -- from a previous marriage.
Julia Geivet, 39, had hopes of selling an "embarrassing" Italian horn bauble she had owned since eighth grade and a few other small trinkets, which she thought might get her $30.
"I figured I'd come get a little money and socialize and chat," said Geivet, who was recently laid off as a manager at Verizon Communications Inc. "It might not come out to a lot, but right now, every little bit helps."
She left with a check for $302.92.
Gold is hot. The precious metal soared $25.70 an ounce Friday to $1,001.80, topping the $1,000 mark for the first time in nearly a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Remember the old saw about "too many dollars chasing too few goods"?
With almost every country in the world printing money 24/7, some are worried they could overshoot deflation and flip us into hyper inflation.
Not that Obama and friends can't judge it perfectly - know exactly when to stop printing and all - - but just in case... /s
I’ve learned it is all about what you have and what you need, or what is needed locally and what you can trade.
We're all going to have to deal with drug addicts that can't get a fix - it's gonna be scary.
Unless you have a $$$ penny sorting machine, it’s too time consuming to separate fake from real pennies.
That’s why I trade 2 FRNs for a roll of nickel nickels every time I visit my bank. It’s mostly just an inside joke to myself.
Cooking oil ...
We will have 30 million Americans “off their meds” at the same time. Millions of them will be newly unemployed and beyond desperate.
It's going to take about 15 minutes to strip that thin veneer of 'civilization' off of some people.
As far as sorting the pennies goes, that's what a kid is for. "Lurker, Jr. Pick through all these pennies please and find all the ones before 1982."
L
Good point! And a great image.
LOL, gallons of that and ten pound of butter, frozen.
Nam Vet
Do you think 10th ounce Canadian Maple Leafs might be a good idea for spending during the chaos?
Gold is the ultimate. I think silver is better to spend during the chaos because then people think you're just modest. But spending gold may act as an advertisement to try a home invasion on you. Say while you are out and family is at home? It will be better to group up with relatives and other families
Did you see the superb Bosnia civil war flick, “Saviour?” What paid for Dennis Quaid’s final bus trip to safety?
Thanks for the recommendation. My library has it and I reserved it
"Beyond Rangoon" is a nice film about war and unrest in Burma
OMG - good point. I would hate to be a person who deals with life's crap by taking medicine and then when the going gets really tough - even for the people who are used to toughing it out - the meds are gone.
And precisely then, there is no more prozac or welbutrin. Cold turkey.
We are are going to see spontaneous psychotic breakdowns by hungry, angry desperate people with guns.
I agree, it’s much better to use silver during a crisis. Drawing attention to yourself with gold could be fatal. If you have not read “Ferfal’” essay on urban survival, you need to google it. It’s about the economic crisis in Argentina circa 2001. He said that black markets arise spontaneously, but if you paid with gold, too many people would notice and you would be subject to robbery or home invasion. He suggested buying up pawnshop “junk gold” like hocked wedding bands. Gold is 20X more valueable than silver, but you can always “spend” a wedding band, and appear to be no more than some poor sap. Even if you owned 100s of them. Just an idea.
Like I said, about 15 minutes.
Fortunately angry desperate people make stupid mistakes. They don't plan very well, either.
no more prozac or welbutrin.
It's amazing what you can get from a sympathetic, like minded physician who's a close friend of the family. As long as you have a valid prescription and stay within the refill schedule one can build up an very well stocked home pharmacy. Modern insurance cards make it amazingly inexpensive as well.
It's even better when that friendly physician is an anesthesiologist.
Antibiotics, serious painkillers, as well as all sorts of hospital grade goodies become available.
Just imagine what that sort of thing will bring on the barter market.
Here's a tip. Let your dentist know you've got a heart murmur. Then the next time you have any work done you'll have a handy scrip for Amoxicillin or something similar. If one were to do that twice a year for several years you'd have a nice little stash of pharma grade broad spectrum antibiotic.
Store them in the freezer and they'll keep for a decade or so.
Just something to think about, not that I'd ever advocate being less than honest with your Dental Health Care Provider....
Those are great tips!
I've shared it with the Mrs. At first I thought she'd look at me and say "You're insane." But she was very sobered by it.
Now we sit down together and go over our contingency planning. She's had some wonderful insights and extremely valuable ideas.
I'm one lucky bas**** not having to do all this planning and preparing by myself. She's an amazing woman. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for sending her my way.
I found his Ferfal blog and will look through it.
Looks very good
Thanks for you take on spending gold and being to visible to thieves during chaos
I have to get some junk silver dimes and quarters but they won't do well during an deflationary chaos.
They will do great during an inflationary chaos
But you even like nickels and say coins will remain the same even if paper currencies get called in and new currency issued
During our Great Depression there was little chaos and paper money and coins were perfectly acceptable. The fact that we had a deflation made this much easier. Roosevelt revalued/confiscated gold and it went up about 33%. I'm pretty sure silver went down in the Great Depression
definitely I’m checking him out but remember -—this was inflationary chaos in Argentina. We might get years of deflation. Deflation works out better for the rich because they hold bonds
Plus Latin counties have had plenty of inflations. That’s how a crisis will play out down there
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