Gold and the money system

[The Artist]

I was having a chat with a mate and we were talking about gold and the money system and he said if you just took gold out of the equation, then money would still work.

Now, I know that money is backed by gold hence fort knox and the like.

I said that it wouldn't work, I can't quite think why but without anything backing notes, then they are worthless. Surely you need something worth something and rare to control monies.

[yuri2085]

Well we in the uk have no gold left after the genius that is Mr.brown sold it at rock bottom prices.

(we may have some..but not enough to mean anything).

[c_dug]

As long as people think it is worth something, it is worth something.

Half the population know that there is no backing behind their money at the moment, but as long as you keep pretending, and I keep pretending, it is all fine and dandy

(Also, I'm not certain on this but I though that even though we don't have the gold to back our money, we have enough collateral or are owed enough by other nations or something like that?)

I'm sure Itchy will be along to correct us all sometime soon
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Ste]

The value of a currency is dependent on faith and stability because without those no one wants to trade in that currency which would mean that particular currency would just be worthless pieces of paper metal.

BoE look at things in terms of gold but for joe public the value of a currency might as well be in loaves of bread or any other staple goods. Remove gold from the equation then money would still work, until the pound dropped in value on international markets which would push the price of everything up and people would lose faith in the currency and then it'd just be worthless pieces of paper and metal.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Money ceased to be backed by gold years ago. In effect now money has the value of a hand of cards in Poker.

As to gold, effectively it is worthless. It is virtually useless so has no real value. However it to is gambled on, so its value is determined by a guess of what its value will be in the future.

All the best

Keith
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[Paulington]

If you ever get the chance, watch this series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb26u9g8

Clears a lot up and it's actually really interesting. If all other nations started pretending that the GBP was worth nothing, then it would be worth nothing.
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[Frost]

[Kickstart]

Hi

As very little of it is used for that (compared to stocked up in vaults or used as jewelry) there are plenty of reasonable alternatives for most uses. Knock its cost down by 90% and use would almost increase. As it is tiny amounts are used in electronics and the like.

Useless was perhaps the wrong word, but unusable due to the cost out of proportion the its value for products is probably reasonable.

All the best

Keith
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[pa_broon74]

The entire economy is based on confidence, which is a wee bit scary to be honest.

Its all to do with the Gold Standard which (I think) Nixon got rid of in 1971ish.

Meh, its all just beer tokens to me.


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Didn't catch anything.

[c_dug]

Wonder how many people would actually survive in a book of ely type scenario. (Collapse of civilisation)

I'd like to think of myself tearing around on some sort of cool bike (Black KTM990SM maybe), weapons to the teeth. Movie style.

Something tells me it wouldn't pan out like that
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[pa_broon74]

I wonder how that would work too.

City folks would be fucked but people would survive in the country, at the end of the day it boils down to land and the ability to grow shit.

The trouble is (I imagine anyway) is you'd get hordes of people from cities over running the countryside so if you did manage to grow stuff it would just get pinched. I think without the rule of law it would go tits up touts sweet.

Not sure how I'd get on, I'm pretty good at fixing shit, that might be a tradable (is that a word?) skill.


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Didn't catch anything.

[c_dug]

Something tells me he who has guns would be top of the food chain until ammo ran dry.

I would imagine Army bases would become fortresses for a while so they would do all right, no chance of raiding for ammo though, well at least until all the soldiers realise they are fucked anyway and walk.

I live 5 minutes from Tesco and my loft is lockable and is kitted out like a room, lots and lots of tinned food and barricade myself in the loft sounds like a safe bet for the first few months, until everybody else dies. Then I can emerge and carry on with my KTM plan.

Sorted
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[pa_broon74]

I'd go for safety in numbers.

I'd look to set up a cooperative with like minded people, I know of a walled garden well off the beaten track, its defendable and big enough to grow stuff (thats what it would've been used for anyway.) Its also a disused caravan park so has useful fittings, toilets and stuff.

I'd be a bit wishy washy and be helpful in the end. The more people I can get onboard, the safer we'd be. I'd have guns too.

I once read a book called Wolf And Iron (Gordon R Dixon.) A cheesy title but its all about life after oil and an interesting read. I tried to find a link but essentially its about a guy who likens his post-apocryphal existence to that of a wolf who has chosen to travel with him.

Its always interesting to hear other peoples takes on how they think things would transpire. I think we'd just regress by about 500 years, the main difference is, the population 500 years ago was tiny compared to what it is today.


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Didn't catch anything.

[c_dug]

The thing is with trying to make a community, people will only ever care for numero uno when it comes down to the hard times, when water is tight, or you have had a bunch of crops go bad, could you really trust some random people not to hide food for themselves, or sneak extra water, just because they are "like minded".

I know I couldn't.

I think the lone wolf approach would be the best strategy for survival, finding/keeping enough rations for one person is going to be a lot easier than feeding a group.

IMO best bet would be a small tent and a warm sleeping bag, and then head for somewhere very remote. Of course I have no foraging/survival skills, so I would starve in a matter or weeks, but at least I might have a nice view from the tent



Also, I think after the first 6 months or so most of the violence and hoarding and stuff would have died off as long as you keep away from big cities, so after that survival may be a bit more likely. At least people would have had a chance to adapt and wouldn't be acting so irrationally like in the first few weeks.




I wonder how quickly this sort of situation could occur, would it happen overnight, would it take a week or a month? Would it effect the whole world, or just one or two countries?

So many unanswerable questions!
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Kickstart]

Hi

If things became that bad I suspect almost all would be screwed. The loner would be screwed however well armed they were as they can't be awake all the time, and they need to be lucky with every one of potentially thousands of encounters.

Some people might be able to grow stuff, but they still need enough to live on for a year or so until crops come through.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[truslack]

I've thought of a couple of people I could happily live out a civilisation breakdown with, but my fire making skills are crap so I should probably work on that. Hunting, fishing, foraging etc I'm good with, shelter making aswell.

Mad max style fight for petrol for me - the MT500 sidecar outfit is perfect for it
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[Hetzer]

Common grass never gets a mention in these scenarios.
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[FreshAL]

[SoND]

[tatters]

Most of the population would stave to death anyway due to loss of food production and imports, the strongest would survive and form town communities for protection against raiders/gangs who inturn ally/conquer other towns to control whole regions eventually consolidating to become nations based upon the strongest group picking over and adapting what they could of the technology left by the last civilzation, as has happened before when existing forms of advanced society/goverment collapse. (ie. romans pulling out of britian).
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