3 ms·

> A silver coin is worth its weight in silver Which may be essentially nothing. Native Americans (e.g., the Aztecs) liked gold because it was pretty, but did

> A silver coin is worth its weight in silver Which may be essentially nothing. Native Americans (e.g., the Aztecs) liked gold because it was pretty, but did not use it as any kind of medium of exchange. By all accounts they were quite puzzled by the obsession the Spaniards had for it. Silver and gold are useful as money because they are scarce, durable, and recognizable. I think you'd find that producing convincing imitation U.S. bank notes or even coins is considerably more difficult than you're imagining, especially in a global collapse scenario.

stale2002 6y ago
> I think you'd find that producing convincing imitation U.S. bank notes or even coins is considerably more difficult No, actually. The dollar is really quite different than gold or silver. This is because even after the "american empire" falls, there would still absolutely be people with the ability to replicate dollars very easily, and who would also be willing to do so. That entity would be whoever owns those US dollar printing presses that are printing the dollars right now. If the US is in a state of collapse, but people are apparently still accepting US dollars in payment, then there would be a strong incentive for who ever controls those already existing printing presses, to produce more green pieces of paper, and exchange them for goods and services. The same is not true for good and silver.
- throw0101a 6y ago
  > That entity would be whoever owns those US dollar printing presses that are printing the dollars right now. Except that most "dollars", or any currency for that matter, are not physical but rather digital values in a computer some place. The modern "printing press" is a computer located at the central bank of the currency in question (Fed, ECB, etc). (Technically most money is actually created by private banks through loans and entries in banks' ledgers.)
  - stale2002 6y ago
    > The modern "printing press" is a computer located at the central bank of the currency in question Ok, that further supports my point then. If the US is in "collapse" then the people who control that currency will still have a large incentive to digitally "print" more dollars. Whereas they couldn't similarly print physical gold in the same way.
  - anonunivgrad 6y ago
    If we’re talking about dollars in a post-American-collapse world, only the little green pieces of paper and coins have any hope left. Your digital balance would be worthless.
- Turing_Machine 6y ago
  There's a lot more involved with counterfeiting a modern U.S. Federal Reserve Note than just firing up a "printing press", dude. Note that government-level entities which happen to be enemies of the United States already have a strong incentive to do this, and they've pretty much universally failed. The press is the easy part. The special watermarked paper, the color-shifting ink, the security threads... all of that requires a functioning industrial infrastructure, dispersed over a large geographic region. And that's exactly what would not be available. If the U.S. goes down, the whole world goes down with it.

stale2002 6y ago

> I think you'd find that producing convincing imitation U.S. bank notes or even coins is considerably more difficult No, actually. The dollar is really quite different than gold or silver. This is because even after the "american empire" falls, there would still absolutely be people with the ability to replicate dollars very easily, and who would also be willing to do so. That entity would be whoever owns those US dollar printing presses that are printing the dollars right now. If the US is in a state of collapse, but people are apparently still accepting US dollars in payment, then there would be a strong incentive for who ever controls those already existing printing presses, to produce more green pieces of paper, and exchange them for goods and services. The same is not true for good and silver.

throw0101a 6y ago
> That entity would be whoever owns those US dollar printing presses that are printing the dollars right now. Except that most "dollars", or any currency for that matter, are not physical but rather digital values in a computer some place. The modern "printing press" is a computer located at the central bank of the currency in question (Fed, ECB, etc). (Technically most money is actually created by private banks through loans and entries in banks' ledgers.)
- stale2002 6y ago
  > The modern "printing press" is a computer located at the central bank of the currency in question Ok, that further supports my point then. If the US is in "collapse" then the people who control that currency will still have a large incentive to digitally "print" more dollars. Whereas they couldn't similarly print physical gold in the same way.
- anonunivgrad 6y ago
  If we’re talking about dollars in a post-American-collapse world, only the little green pieces of paper and coins have any hope left. Your digital balance would be worthless.
Turing_Machine 6y ago
There's a lot more involved with counterfeiting a modern U.S. Federal Reserve Note than just firing up a "printing press", dude. Note that government-level entities which happen to be enemies of the United States already have a strong incentive to do this, and they've pretty much universally failed. The press is the easy part. The special watermarked paper, the color-shifting ink, the security threads... all of that requires a functioning industrial infrastructure, dispersed over a large geographic region. And that's exactly what would not be available. If the U.S. goes down, the whole world goes down with it.