General > General Technical Chat
If the shit hit the fan, what would be in your bug out bag?
EEVblog:
--- Quote from: apis on July 20, 2016, 04:32:49 pm ---I suspect people who have never hiked in their life will not get very far if they have to suddenly pack a bag and walk several miles during a disaster. So stay fit and go hiking is probably the first thing anyone who want to prepare for situations like that should do.
--- End quote ---
Several miles isn't going to do you much good in a large scale city-wide crisis.
If people had to get out of the Sydney basin for example, it's a 50km radius.
Cars would be useless because the few roads out would get choked. A push bike or motor bike is probably the best solution.
EEVblog:
--- Quote from: Delta on July 21, 2016, 09:14:04 pm ---I've never understood the ones who horde gold.
Gold has pretty much zero value (apart from some specialist electronics applications), and crucially your can't eat nor drink it!
--- End quote ---
Gold is the thing with as close to intrinsic value as possible.
But yes, you can't exchange it easily for things in a crisis, in that respect it's borderline useless.
--- Quote ---They seem to think that after the apocalypse, all our currencies will have no value (ie people will no longer exchange them for goods and services), but gold will! :palm:
--- End quote ---
Yes, pretty dumb. A crucial thing a prepper should have is a wad of cash in all denominations. Survival may actually come down to those who have the cash. Only in the most extreme Mad Max style SHTF scenarios would paper currency become worthless. To do that requires the loss of faith in the current monetary system and a complete upheaval of society.
Few people know what gold and silver is worth, so it's not going to be a medium of exchange in a crisis. It would require a lot of time for a post SHTF society to change.
TerraHertz:
--- Quote from: EEVblog on July 25, 2016, 12:12:05 pm ---A crucial thing a prepper should have is a wad of cash in all denominations. Survival may actually come down to those who have the cash. Only in the most extreme Mad Max style SHTF scenarios would paper currency become worthless. To do that requires the loss of faith in the current monetary system and a complete upheaval of society.
Few people know what gold and silver is worth, so it's not going to be a medium of exchange in a crisis.
--- End quote ---
All sad but true. It's astonishing to see videos of a guy trying to sell a genuine 1oz gold coin for $20 to passers-by in a US city, and have no takers. It's even sadder when you know the official spot price of gold is itself the result of decades of massive price suppression by selling huge quantities of paper 'gold certificates' that have no little or no actual gold backing. Without that price suppression, the true price of gold is hard to estimate but guesses range up to US$50,000 per ounce.
I wonder which will arrive first: the final elimination of physical cash, or an actual SHTF situation? These two horses seem to be running neck and neck at the moment.
Something relevant I saw today: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-24/celebrating-45-years-phony-money
--- Quote --- It would require a lot of time for a post SHTF society to change.
--- End quote ---
That's the only point I question. Social mood swings can be very rapid. It just takes the right disillusioning events.
Btw, did you know that the Australian Banking Act contains wording that provides for gold confiscation any time the government chooses? All it takes is a signature of the Governor General.
Australian Banking Act 1959 (as ammended)
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2004C00162
BANKING ACT 1959 Part IV—Gold
So, ban cash (it's happening around the world, and the anti-cash propaganda is being poured on pretty thickly here too), then confiscate gold. Won't that be fun? The banks will enjoy charging negative interest rates on deposits, and what are the customers going to do about it?
EEVblog:
--- Quote from: TerraHertz on July 25, 2016, 01:26:27 pm ---
--- Quote --- It would require a lot of time for a post SHTF society to change.
--- End quote ---
That's the only point I question. Social mood swings can be very rapid. It just takes the right disillusioning events.
--- End quote ---
True. But the issue in this case I think is two fold:
a) Gold and silver is now so far out of mainstream consciousness that no one knows anything about it.
and perhaps more importantly
b) There is so little in the way of tradeable gold and silver coins in people's hands that there simply isn't enough to go around physically to make it a viable currency for the general population in a short time frame.
And if SHTF did really happen, the price of gold would skyrocket so much that even a 1 gram coin or bar likely wouldn't be tradeable.
--- Quote ---Btw, did you know that the Australian Banking Act contains wording that provides for gold confiscation any time the government chooses? All it takes is a signature of the Governor General.
Australian Banking Act 1959 (as ammended)
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2004C00162
BANKING ACT 1959 Part IV—Gold
--- End quote ---
Actually AFAIK there is no "confiscation" provision as such. They can impose all sorts of limits on the sale and transfer of gold though.
And even if it "confiscated", they have to give you the going currency rate for it.
--- Quote ---So, ban cash (it's happening around the world, and the anti-cash propaganda is being poured on pretty thickly here too)
--- End quote ---
It's never going to work completely. Cash will always remain, I'm sure of it.
Yes the uptake rate of cashless is increasing, but it's not going to continue linear down to zero.
razberik:
People will always have their needs which cannot be suppressed.
-eating
-sleeping
-doing poo
-exercising reproduction.
Therefore a good commodity to trade would be tins of food, beds, toilet paper, condoms (and appropriate workers).
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