[yorkiemom]

Here is the Weimar hyperinflation chart. It took five years, and everybody saw it coming.

Sure, they knew inflation was eating into their money supply. But couldn't do a thing about it. Prices rose faster than income, so all they could do is buy their daily bread. If you're talking about those with money - lots of it - that's another thing - but the general populace had the value of their money wiped out with the cost of items rising quickly. And the government giving platitudes about how things will get better made them just hang on, hoping for the best. As with all financial disasters, nobody had a crystal ball.

[elcid1970]

But those in Germany who had gold took their gold across the border & purchased Swiss francs which had fungible value anywhere in Europe.

Real question: how do U.S. holders of gold turn it into food, fuel, & other essentials? I don’t know, but I believe silver U.S. cartwheels can be far more easily exchanged for those things than gold. Thoughts?