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Silver would be better than gold in that circumstance. Those that are pushing gold are not talking about the great depression, though, they are talking about a “collapse” where fiat money is worthless.

Your grandparents used paper (fiat) money to survive the depression.

Silver would be better than gold in that circumstance. Those that are pushing gold are not talking about the great depression, though, they are talking about a “collapse” where fiat money is worthless. Your grandparents used paper (fiat) money to survive the depression.

Silver would be better as "carrying around money", but gold is more compact per loaf of bread equivalent. You could always trade some gold for a bunch of walking around money, just as today (or before ATMs) you could take a couple of hundreds and exchange them for smaller denomination bills. (I gave a Blimpies worker a $100 earlier in the week, you'd think I'd given him a 10K note. It was partial repayment of a loan I'd made to my daughter, she in turn had gotten it from she and husband's "boarder" for his share of the rent money.

Actually my grandparents used a lot of barter, and if there had been no paper money, they could have done OK just using barter. (Although buying from the Sears and Sawbuck or Monkey Wards would have been difficult if all you had to trade was a few hundred dozen eggs. Sending in a little gold would not hav been much problem) The problem with paper money is that the government can print more, diluting the value of that which individuals hold. They can't easily get more gold, silver, or any other tangible so as to decrease it's purchasing power. Meaning that paper/fiat money is not so good for maintaining a "rainy day" or "emergency" store of value. Land is not as liquid as gold or other precious metal.

Nothing is perfect, but paper money (or electronic money) puts too much power in the hands of government and it's central bankers.

Your grandparents used paper (fiat) money to survive the depression.

Paper money need not be "fiat" if it is required to be backed and is redeemable in gold, silver or some other hard currancy. IOW, if Gold is $35 /oz, then you should be able to go to the bank and get an oz of Gold for $35. You could do just that until 1933. Here is a paper 1922 Gold Certificate:

So my grandparents were not getting by on "fiat" currency, it was backed by gold until '33 and it took quite some time for the effects of it no longer being redeemable for god to be felt. But silver certificates were still allowed and used. Even I remember having silver certificates. They were issued until from 1878 to 1964, and were redeemable for silver coins until 1968, the year I graduated from high school.