They'll be a hell of a lot more helpful than gold! As for the "illegal gun" comment, it was once illegal to hold physical gold in this country. It can surely happen again.
Actually gold will be the only thing of value if every single country fails. And you cant really say "this has never happened" as if you are counting back 1000s of years of history of us being in the same type of economy the world is in now. Economics changed when the US went off the gold standard.
If there was a collapse of the dollar, I'd prefer fifty dollars in old silver coins over an ounce of gold. People would accept the old coins in exchange for food, it would be difficult to find someone who would accept the ounce of gold.
1. I do not own gold in any form nor am I buying. However, if I was offered $1000 dollars worth of gold or $1000 worth of guns or pork bellies, I'd take the gold. As for selling the physical gold, it would be plenty easy if the US was backed into a corner. You could just go into another country and sell it there, provided the US was the only one in trouble. You may not get spot price but it will be a heck of a lot more valuable than a couple guns and 100 pounds of raw sugar. 2. The government would take your gold? OK, whatever you say. If that would be true they would take your guns and food as well. And trust me a couple of your pistols and shotguns would be no match for a US military tank. But I'll bet you 100 bushels of corn this doesn't happen in our lifetime. 3. I never made a call on gold. I have no idea if it is going up or down. I do know, however, that it will retain most of its value. As for gold being a bubble, well I wouldn't go that far. It alarms me a little to see all these late night commercials for gold and seeing all these clueless retirees putting all their retirement into gold. But, many believe hyper inflation is in the future, and certainly the US government has hurt the dollar which is always bullish for gold. So I think you could make a case both ways for gold.
No gold wouldn't be worth a thing in this case. And it has never happened. not since civilizations were first established. If every country fell the world would be in complete anarchy. Everything that couldn't be used would be completely worthless. You say economics changed when the US went off the gold standard, but if every single country fell then economics would cease to exist.
That is exactly why I am investing in silver more than gold. Everyone is talking about gold, which is causing it to go up more than silver right now. However, if there really is a rapid dollar decline and a public panic, Joe Schmoe isn't going to be able to afford gold at $1500+ per ounce. Everyone is going to want junk silver. It may seem like science fiction right now, but I can imagine the local grocery store and Walmart asking for payment in silver dimes and quarters, rather than US pesos...errr... dollars. Even if there is lawlessness (which is less likely than a currency collapse), even outlaws need some sort of money as a means of exchange. With the gold to silver ratio being > 60, silver is the only precious metal bargain still out there.
I don't know what gold possibly becoming illegal would have to do with certain guns being illegal now. I made the "illegal gun comment" because the guns that were posted would be illegal for civilians to hold. So if you "invested" in them and the feds found out, you would go to jail.
Assuming no total meltdown, but inflation increasing, I rather in invest in oil. Oil is finite and is being used up for example as gas to drive cars. Gold for the most part is never destroyed, its converted into jewelery which can be melted back into gold. Dollar can be supported very easily by increasing interest rates which will reduce hyper inflation and decrease the price of gold, but not oil. The price of oil only falls due to deflation not inflation and only slightly due to a strong $. The S and D of gas is inelastic, which means that as price goes up, demand remains for the most part constant since people want to drive their cars. When oil was at $ 170, there was not a decrease of cars on the road. However, when oil was at $ 40, there was a decrease of cars on the road, due to people losing their jobs.
+1 1 x Silver Maple = 1 Chicken 25 x .22LR = 1 Chicken 6 x .308 = 1 Chicken 10 x 12ga. = 1 Chicken Well, something like that (in SHTF). Gold coins etc would probably be used to buy property etc, big things. Still need silver for the small stuff. I've got a couple of cases of Absolute 100 in the basement. I'll bet that would be worth something.