[todeen]

This was an interesting thread that died. I didn't really see any input by preppers, kind of shocking. Nor did there seem to be any historical explanations.

To make sense of a preppers' response, one must understand the historical understanding of currency. Over thousands of years humans have moved away from a barter based economy to a currency economy. Humans once used shells as a means of currency. Eventually, moving into minted coins - think of the Romans 2000 years ago. Although silver might seem like a worthless metal, it has defined human currency models for hundreds of years. Before the US Dollar, silver was the global currency. World exploration after Columbus was defined by silver when the most powerful global economies were based on the idea of mercantilism. England decimated the Qing dynasty (China) by robbing their coffers of silver, in exchange for opium. tsk tsk tsk. During the slave trade in the Atlantic, European economies realized they would bankrupt themselves if they purchased slaves with silver, so they turned to trading weapons and rum, among other trade goods. They took the slaves to the Americas where they were exchanged for silver, and the silver returned to Europe. Only in more modern times have individuals believed that paper currency can be backed by a country's GDP. It's an interesting concept that preppers think is based on sleight of hand.

Preppers therefore believe that if the global economy fails, or even the US economy, currency will revert to the previous system of trading in metals and trade goods. Why? Because historically, for thousands of years, people have believed that metals hold value. And gems. And things that glitter to the eye. One can't necessarily walk around with a Picasso or a Van Gogh, but one can walk around with a shiny coin in their pocket. One prepper book I read suggested a supply of junk metal, bullets, cigarettes, and some other trade goods that might be appealing to others. Obviously as has been quoted earlier, silver takes up a lot of space and is heavy. But it also can be divided much easier than gold. Can you imagine having to chip off flakes of gold? How bothersome! So junk silver, silver eagles, and silver bars would be much more beneficial in that regard.