by wbeck » Fri Oct 28, 2011 3:09 am
Well, I was really wanting to respond to the off topic stuff last night, but there was the get back on topic post... But since it's a bit derailed again...
My 2 cents is that the Fed needs to be reigned in properly first. No matter what you're going to do it needs to be over a long period of time, and very carefully. Fix the fiat first... THEN however I do believe we could go back to being backed. It would require us using gold, silver, and then probably to supplement platinum, copper, and maybe others. The whole thing is that the whole world can't be backed... BUT the US, as the worlds reserve currency, certainly could be. The way you could make it work is not to be 100 percent backed, but merely redeemable, and perhaps with REQUIRED (and stuck to) rules as far as maintaining a minimum amount of backing. Say 90, or 75 percent or whatever. With a hybrid system one could keep the theoretical benefit of fiat, which is being able to add money when needed, but remove the total collapse, or with 90 percent, even anything above 10% devaluation!
I could ramble for eons and ways to skin the cat, but I do still think we should figure out a system involving PM backing if we ever actually want to straighten things out.
As for the SHTF thing... While there will be thuggery, physical size is less important than being sharp, and a good shot! I'm only 5'9" and skinny as a rail, but short of a first fight I'd choose myself in almost any hairy situation I can imagine vs all the big guys I know. Also, while thieving might rise and fall during tumoltuous times, in the end even in a really bad situation, people tend to restore minimum levels of order. You simply have to to continue to survive. In the olden days your country might be invaded, conquered, and pillaged... Locals might even take advantage to do a little pillaging of their own, but in time things get half way back to normal.
