Well IMO you both make good points. In fact all 'money' is an illusion - - created out of the human need to try to capture some sense of security about the future. Real Wealth has the capacity to support x number of human lives, x number of forward days. Little pieces of paper with dead notables on them won't do that. Bigger pieces of paper with accounting figures on them won't do that either - - - especially if the entities backing those figures are lying or have gone tits up, or the illusion counting in those accounts has had their values drastically devalued by central banks creating even more of the little illusions, or govts declare 'bank holidays' so you can't get to the 'money' in the accounts, etc, etc, etc. (they seem to have an almost infinite level of creativity for such things.) - Little shiny pieces of metal won't do it - - you sure can't eat them. I can't imagine they'd make very good bullets either. But, people have been fooled by the illusion of gold for longer than any other form of money illusion, so IMO its not a bad idea to have a bit of the physical stuff as a hedge. (Just take note that back in the first Great Depression the government outlawed its possession by the citizens & threatened confiscation, fines, and imprisonment for violators. ) In the worse case doom-and-gloom scenario, it would be best to turn all that illusion 'money' into something physically useful. Back to living like the pioneers ! I do enjoy camping & roughing it outdoors, - - but that seems a bit drastic at this point. Besides, all that Real Wealth stuff takes up a ton of space !
You don't need to be a doom and gloomer to believe gold will do well as an assetclass. Gold went up 2500% in the seventies. Maybe some people stayed out of that trade as well because what the hell do nutty goldnuts about investing right?
My point is that of course its all an illusion & that all 'money' is useless in an 'End of Days' scenario - - - I happen to be long on physical gold and other representative instruments for it. Its an insurance policy - - -
Money serves 2 purposes. 1) A medium of exchange 2) A store of value History shows I can always exchange my gold for the local currency (anywhere in the world). I would consider that liquid enough. And if memory serves me (and history) it has represented a much better store of value than any fiat currency in the history of fiat currency. In fact, I might challenge you to find a currency which has not gone to its intrinsic value over time. I am no gold bug - Just being prudent in how I allocate a portion of my capital. Heck, I can even exhange it for a tin foil hat if need be... LOL! Good day sir.
If this financial disaster leads to a war then maybe these concerns raised are a possibility. If not this is all a bunch of crap. Sounds like a bunch of spoiled people who have never lived through a time of adversity now going paranoid with gloom and doom. Softies.
My point is that of course its all an illusion & that all 'money' is useless in an 'End of Days' scenario - - - I happen to be long on physical gold and other representative instruments for it. Its an insurance policy - - -
In times of trouble, gold and gemstones go higher in value. supply and demand. Gems and gold are portable reservoirs for storing value across all cultures. Very unlike baseball cards which have a small number of fanatical followers.
+30% ~ 12 months later... This is how money should behave... A store of value. Oh, I remember the argument... It has no yield...