Asia shares nosedive as gold scales another peak

Reuters ^ | 08/09/11

[John Leland 1789]

"Love the fact that you want the responders to define how the economy will work when you haven't defined 'complete catastrophic crash'"

Love the fact that I am asking responders NOT to define anything at all, but I am asking if anyone knows of a BOOK or series of JOURNAL ARTICLES on the subject.

I am looking for a BOOK (OR BOOKS), AUTHOR/EXPERT (OR A FEW), JOURNAL (OR JOURNALS), PUBLISHER (OR PUBLISHERS), ISBN (OR SEVERAL).

[John Leland 1789]

Thank you so much, kevao!

I will be looking at that book.

I wonder if any “experts” in the USA have tried to think this through and put it on paper.

[Atlas Sneezed]

But you ask the wrong question. The real question is: What gold owners would have purchased their gold had they known that it would be confiscated as of May 1, 1933 for $20.67/ounce? Obviously, anyone who bought their gold for more than $20.67/ounce got shafted.

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You make the mistake of assuming that gold was an “investment” back then, bought at dollars per ounce. In fact, gold WAS money. You had a $20 gold piece that might have been your pay (if you were well-paid). And the reason for the “confiscation” (buy-up) was because gold had gained value.

The pain wasn’t in any loss when getting your paper dollars for gold dollars, it was the subsequent devaluing of those paper dollars (which everyone suffered, not just former gold owners).

[kevao]

I wonder if any “experts” in the USA have tried to think this through and put it on paper.

You know quite well that no one even dares to conceive that a societal collapse of that magnitude could possibly happen here, which, IMO, makes it all the more likely....

[Atlas Sneezed]

Silver has lost considerable real value due to the conversion of photography to digital. This accounts for over half of the silver that was once used.

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The experts will explain that essentially all the silver used in photography was/is recycled, so the loss of this demand source is not as dramatic as you might imagine. Understand that the black and white film business has been minimal for decades (before silver’s rise), and what there is is in medical (X-rays) which is scrupulously recycled.

An analysis of silver production, supply and demand tends to point to a shortage and higher prices.

Nonetheless, when the US Mint was “consuming” or at least tying up silver in the form of national coinage before 1965, that helped put the AU/AG ratio much lower, and I don’t look for a return to 16.

[kevao]

You make the mistake of assuming that gold was an “investment” back then, bought at dollars per ounce. In fact, gold WAS money.

Touché! You are quite right about that. I'm showing my (lack of) age. It's so easy to forget that, once upon a time, gold was as good as money (and our money was as good as gold!). Such an alien concept now. God help us.

[Atlas Sneezed]

How does the possessor of gold use his gold to survive?

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There are lots of ways, but the most important point is that your gold isn’t there to help YOU survive a crisis. It’s there to help your WEALTH survive the crisis.

[kevao]

Still, though, anyone who bought, or was paid, any amount gold at the price of $20.68/ounce or more, got *royally* screwed when they were forced by executive order sell their gold to Fedzilla for $20.67. Yet how many people do you know who are aware of the Great Gold Robbery of 1933?

[dennisw]

The other fact is that men know the difference between worthless paper and precious metals. Those will be welcome worldwide whereas paper will be a complete joke.

We could easily have a deflationary collapse with bank runs and bond defaults all over the place. If this happens then (cold hard cash) green Federal Reserve notes should be OK. Your bank account maybe only 50% accessible to you. The other half converted into 3-5 year Federal Gov't notes (IOUs). But cash you hid in your mattress did great compared to your stocks and your bank accounts.