As Gold Hits New Record, Some See Warning Signs of Civilizational Collapse
As Gold Hits New Record, Some See Warning Signs of Civilizational Collapse
www.newsweek.com
As Gold Hits New Record, Some See Warning Signs of Civilizational Collapse
Comments
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The imaginary money you invested in gold is worthless if civilization collapsed, so it's in the rich person's interests to keep things going so they can pull that investment back.
It's more likely we are heading to another US recession, hopefully not as bad as the 1930s
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I'm sorry, what? Gold has value regardless of if there's a government backing it or not. That's the entire point of investing in it, as a buffer for when fiat loses its value.
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That's the general idea, yeah. But gold investments are just a kind of construct where you legally own a certain amount of gold. Wether anyone respects your right of ownership when civilization collapses... we'll see about that.
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What value? Can't eat it, makes shitty tools. It's shiny, but I'm not going to trade ny potatoes for shiny in a survival situation.
You can starve sitting on a pile of gold.
For gold to be valuable you still need social stability.
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The value of gold lies in the fact that other men may be disposed to work their ass off in order to have some shiny things to gift to women in order to have sex. As you can imagine, the power of gold amongst married couples drastically decreases.
Besides this... History shows humans always gave value to gold. For some reason we got very used into associating gold with value. As such, it is probably something good to have if economy collapses. But it doesn't really matter if society collapsed.
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No it doesn't. Not anymore.
Not beyond its industrial uses, at least.
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The fact that you are being downvoted for this is pretty shocking.
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He means regular money would be worthless as well as stocks and such. And as rich people own gold, but own much more of the other, he argues they would like to avoid collapse.
However, I don't think they really can. Also, if it comes to recession very rich people tend to profit.
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Yeah although its actual value is basically maluablness and prettiness and non corrosion which is why its nice in jewelry and its conductive properties to some degree. Its larger value is essentially the same as fiat. Percieved value.
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Shiny metals wont fill your stomach, protect you from weather or defend you from thieves though. Technically it's worthless if soceity collapses. You want the basics for survival, not shiny objects
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sorry dude. when shtf, I'm only accepting food, medicine, water, and ammo. after that is books, gasoline, firewood, and candles.
after that, maybe gold and silver is at the bottom of the trade list.
you want some food because you're starving? Best I can do is 3.5 oz of gold.
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Hey, wanna know what happened in the US during the first Great Depression?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
Executive Order 6102 is an executive order signed on April 5, 1933, by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt forbidding "the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States".
Almost no one owns their own actual physical gold these days, its usually some kind of thing that is ultimately some kind of legal agreement, even easier to just revoke all of those.
I mean sure, yes, gold has an actual limited supply and has practical uses in engineering application, and yes, gold is a functional hedge against general economic/monetary uncertainty.
But a far more authoritirian government than FDR's can literally do whatever the hell it wants.
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If only there was a digital version of gold, that had a permanent record of everyone's ownership right back to the first nugget of gold, that would be untouchable/secure in a collapse/near collapse scenario. Something that you could bring with you wherever you go in the world, yet no need to physically bring anything with you.
Man I would be investing in that so hard right now.
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You mean Bitcoin, the imaginary thing that literally could be destroyed at any moment in time and the rich people use to manipulate their prices and game more money all the time? You mean that type of thing? Honestly gold is way better than investing in that.
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Yes, the thing that doesn't work in case of an internet or power outage. Yeah, that's a good idea to use in societal collapse.
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Comments like this must go so hard if you're stupid.
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That thing sounds like it needs a functioning internet and communications system. If society collapses I wouldn’t bet on the blockchain being usable.
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Some See Warning Signs of Civilizational Collapse
Yes. Everyone.
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stupid fuckers, buy bottlecaps
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My girlfriend often laughs at my bottle cap collection. But I tell her that when the apocalypse comes I'll be the one laughing!
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Just late stage capitalism.
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Late stage humanity.
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Everyone is a data point.
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Whenever the pet rock starts to outperform the markets you know you're in for a bad time.
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I work in the mining industry and all of my coworkers are so excited about the price of gold and other precious metals hitting record highs. They say that this will result in all of us becoming wealthy. Bless their hearts…
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Their bosses, you'd think the know the difference.
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You would think that but no, most of the management is the same. All are happily excited about all the things they are doing to buy. There are a handful of people who are going to be retiring within a year and they are all excited too. One of the older employees has medical issues and requires medication and within the last couple of months he has been unable to get his medication and has had a few moments where he has been hospitalized as a result. And he blames “woke” and “trans liberals” for the problems. The next 4-6 months are going to be interesting to see.
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the pollutants from mining gold got into thier heads.
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Not very hopeful if you have diseases easily managed in a global society, like epilepsy, but for which you are effectively dead if global medicine production stops.
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We are talking billions dead. A new dark age. A total collapse of global civilization. No food, no water, no electricity.
Go out this weekend with nothing but a tent and live in the forest. That's what you're about to experience.
Ain't no "new government" gonna spring up around you bro. Refugee camps have better conditions than where we're headed.
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And this time without petroleum as a resource.
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Millions of Americans are doing that right now (hunting season is upon us, which won't be a thing is there is no government)
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if you are a "have not" start hoarding bullets, they are really good at farming gold from the "haves"
brought to you by Big Marauder
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Gold is only valuable in a society. You can't eat it post apocalypse.
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The trick there is that there's always a new normal that comes, and that food is heavy (per value) and hard to use for hastily arranged or large purchases. It's a decent guess that you'll eventually be able to spend your gold coins if fiat becomes worthless.
Buy it during the apocalypse is still my personal plan, though.
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Gold is worth more for the same reason stocks are worth more.
The GOP is destroying the dollar.
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My maga mom has been trying to get me to buy silver for the last few months and I keep telling her if society ended silver isn’t gonna be worth anything. She got mad and changed the subject 😅
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If you'd bought silver (or silver ETFs) a few months ago you would have made a whole bunch of money, and society hasn't ended yet.
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I live paycheck to paycheck so I wouldn’t have made much. A few hundred at most. The stock market is a scam for rich people to live off interest.
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if society ended silver isn’t gonna be worth anything
i doubt that.
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Go buy precious metals than. Their value is high right now due to trumps trade war.
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it would be things like CLEAN WATER, crops, and non-perishable foods. just think about the "200" episode of american dad, roger ended civilization when he was bombarded by particles in an acclerators. everyone either became a cannibal or fled/roam around to gather resources for food/security(while trying to avoid getting eaten by cannibals.
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Not as money but silver has other uses.
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My slowly-unravelling Aussie brother let me in on the secret (to buy physical silver) before the weekend. I should have shorted it the second he gave me the tip
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This is why I started hoarding bottle caps.
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Imagine all Fallout fans group up and actually make the factions from the games. Or make our own factions similar to them
Pretty sure we would win against everybody else collectively in that imaginary scenario
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Imagine all Fallout fans group up and actually make the factions
I mean, they [you] sometimes do?
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First you get the caps. Then you get the power.
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*American civilisational collapse
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America has been the most dominant world-wide force in 6 decades. If it collapses, it's doing a lot of damage, taking other civilizations with it.
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"It's not the house that is on fire, it's just the kitchen"
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Another kitchen will take its place; always have. Now, whether you agree or not, the next kitchen is likely to be China.
And not to completely dismiss your point, but like I said in another comment, it's important to decouple from the kitchen that is US to minimise the consequences. I don't want another repeat of the Roaring 20's and the countries too economically intertwined with the US also collapsed when the Great Depression hit. One of those countries who was dragged down the worst was Germany, when American investors pulled out their investments from the country. That severe aftershock gave rise to the Nazis, and the rest is history.
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This is great news, my Beanie Baby collection is about to bounce back.
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A very useful currency for a collapse at least in the early days is gonna be cigarettes
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cigarettes, whiskey, and 9mm.
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Yup 100%
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I am figuring K-Cups might be a currency as well, for those who have a caffeine addiction like myself.
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And some others saw the warning signs a long while ago. I'm glad that some more of the people are finally catching up.
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Welcome to the party, pals!
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That's a bit rich. A rising gold price is a sign people are expecting trouble. That happens a lot even when civilisations aren't collapsing.
Looking at facts other than that, bad stuff is going to continue to come, but nothing directly world-ending (yes, including climate change).
Basically, this is a tabloid selling "end is nigh" stuff.
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"End is neigh" certainly sounds like some 4 horsemen of the apocalypse shit.
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Oh shit, TIL that's not how you spell that. Fixed.
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The thing is most of my gold (i.e. ~20% of my portfolio) is as ETFs. Good luck to me using that when civilisation collapses, if it does (I don't think that's happening in the shape and form as it sounds from this article). But then it was not likely at all I would be able to safeguard that in the physical gold form either in that perceived atmosphere of tyranny and mayhem, so that's there.
One could, however, look to reduce or balance (whatever you wanna call it) USD exposure.
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Exactly. If you don't own physical gold, whatever you own is vapor on paper the second they decide it is. I'm in the same boat.
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All these folks buying gold and my apocalypse plan just involves a handle of whiskey and one bullet.
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Out of all dysopian currencies, I see Metro's bullet currencies as being the most accurate. I had a tough time planning ahead on whether to sell or hoard cause down that tunnel be death.
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You can take gold with you when you flee to another country. Most of them get a bit pissy when you show up with ammo.
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brb hoarding crazy madmax masks, clothing, and other generally postapocalyptic looking gear.
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🤞
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Invest in bottlecaps now, folks.
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Not crypto, not gold. All of these have an implied or perceived value. This will last until people realize that the value is an agreement between them and others. Depending on how things are going there will only be some things that retain real value beyond prestige. Commodities. Raw resources will retain value forever or until spoilage. However refined there will be a value chain. Veblen goods are not practical, and as a result, will not hold up as a currency in any scenario where survival is the main priority.
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Ok true, but gold has been valuable since the BCE, even when survival was the main priority and a much bigger concern than it is for a large amount of people today. I think humans are gonna see gold as valuable even in the worst of circumstances.
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Yeah, it's not "how much you think gold is worth" but more "how much do you think other people think gold is worth". And unless there's a world-ending event it's not a bad place to park some money.
This is all giving very "I'm 40 but I thought I would kill myself by 30" vibes.
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It'll never get old to me that the Uber wealthy know money is only valuable because everyone agrees it is. And when they accumulate too much, everyone else stops caring about it make Ng it worthless...
And their response is always to hoard a different thing that is mostly valuable only because people all agree it is.
Like, gold does have some actual uses, but none of this is being used for that. Just hoarded because people think others want it.
But shit gets bad enough, it's like a zombie apocalypse.
You can have all the gold in the world, doesn't mean someone will trade even a gun with a single bullet for it.
There's just no real way to hold onto that insane levels of wealth it inequality, because it's totally unnatural. It's unmaintainable, but the people who benefit will try everything to keep it.
On the other hand, there are plenty of people who wouldn't mind giving you a single bullet for free.
Maybe even more (Shaky hands... happens all the time....)
It's the legendary metaphor of the all powerful dragon that sits on his mountain of gold
I could see wall street and other traders trading options on the gold under the dragon because it isn't going anywhere and it's safe from basically everything.
That market will crash if sufficiently skilled dragon hunters show up though, better ban dragon slaying.
This reminds me of the Shadowrun universe: the cyberpunk megacorporations are literally run by dragons. It's so apt it's scary lol.
I feel like the gold is more for using right before the worst case scenarios, in the end, they will have enough firepower, security, and other necessary provisions. After having that, just get a big enough following of people who think you’re the ideal candidate to be seen as a king for them and that’s what the rich will become in the next theoretical cycle of civilization.
On the surface, it sounds plausible. But if you dig into how the resources you mentioned are produced, the ones which would allow them to become kings, there's a plot hole. The production can only be done in centralized factories where many workers labour. And the inputs for those factories are done in other factories where many workers labour. As long as such resources are required to maintain these fiefdoms, the rulers power would be constrained by labour power. And we know from history that when enough workers are out of a job, when enough live in poverty, workers organize to stop working and take over the factories. Then they start producing for themselves, instead of the rulers. Then the rulers end up with no guns or other technology needed to enforce their power. What's worse for the prospects of the future would-be-kings, is that the theory which tells workers how to organize and what to do in such cases has been written, and tested, and it works. And so I think we're likely gonna see more of that instead of new monarchies formed by former capitalist elites.
Right...
They'll try to use it for "security" but the fact is that just tells the people they pay one of two things:
There's a pretty good show with a great premise called Billionaire's Bunker that gives a third option, the billionaires would really hate that one, but it's pretty good plan
It's a sign of mental illness. If I had $500 million I wouldn't work another day in my life. You would never hear about me. I would go live somewhere quiet and have everything I could possibly want delivered to me.
To have more wealth than you could possibly spend in the rest of your miserable life, and yet so desperately desire more that you're willing to break any moral, ethical, or legal framework in your way and make political enemies in order to do so, is a sign of a deeply disturbed individual who not only should not be in charge of anything but should probably be kept away from the general public.
That sounds like it might drive a person crazy too. I hope that after acquiring the financial freedom to choose what to do, I'd find the motivation and energy to choose to do some actually worthwhile things with other people, just staying alert to what needs doing. I agree about these guys being mentally unwell though. They're stuck in a rut of greed for more money and power, and they lack the perspective, imagination or capacity to appreciate life that they'd need to change course.
Yeah, many people, wealthy or not, do not understand what money is, or any other medium of exchange, and where their value comes from.