there will be two classes of people in such a scenario, those who scrounge for necessities and those who buy and sell gold. There will ALWAYS be a buyer for your gold somewhere. don’t kid yourself, gold is still the world’s real reserve currency no matter what Ben Bernanke says.
>> there will be two classes of people in such a scenario, those who scrounge for necessities and those who buy and sell gold.
There must also — and will also — be a third class of people in that scenario: those with the foresight to store *true* value in useful things, like for example land, tractors, fuel, biodiesel-making capability, antibiotics, roofing tools, ...
I’m not a big believer in a “WTSHTF” scenario, although I acknowledge that it *could* happen. But let’s assume it *does* happen. I envision a scenario like the following:
YOU: I’m hungry. I want to buy a chicken from you.
ME: “Buy”? What does that mean? There’s no such thing as money anymore.
YOU: Okay, sorry, I want to trade with you.
ME: What do you have to trade?
YOU: I’ll give you a tiny sliver of gold shaved off this coin.
ME: Ha ha ha ha ha. What good is that to me?
YOU: Then what do you want?
ME: I need a quart of lube oil and a fan belt for my tractor.
YOU: [blank look]
ME: OK, I’ll take pity on you. Give me that gold coin...
YOU: DUDE! I paid FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS for that coin!
ME: What’s a dollar?
... you get the picture.
And the third category - Wolves with guns and ammunition.