Reply to post: Re: "Oh, and in really bad times, gold is useless as it cannot be eaten or worn."

Hey, folks. Meet the economics 'genius' behind Jeremy Corbyn

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

Re: "Oh, and in really bad times, gold is useless as it cannot be eaten or worn."

Its the "if other economies are still functioning" that's the catch. In a siege, sure, but if the "really bad times" are the result of an economic collapse, other economies will taken down too depending on how big and interconnected the local economy is.

If you're in the UK and it becomes totally dysfunctional/dystopian, even IF the economy of, say, Russia was still functioning, there has to be a way to get the gold out of the UK and bring in something you need (i.e. food) Both are subject to theft along the way, so even if the value was gold was nominally high in Russia, it will still be very low in the UK because of the difficulty and risk in transporting it to Russia where it worth something. Likewise, if food was relatively cheap in Russia, it will still cost a fortune when it gets to the UK for the same reasons (plus spoilage, which at least you don't have to worry about with gold)

The UK economy going tits up would seriously impact the world, but the world would probably still be able to function, to a degree. If the US economy went under, it would almost certainly take down the rest of the world. At that point, unless you know some gold loving aliens, the value of the stuff is going to plummet to near zero (after first skyrocketing) once gold bugs realize that people who hold physical gold in such a world may as well be stock piling masonry bricks. It will be food, fuel and bullets that will matter, and be the "money" of that world.

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