Let’s define it first. “Money (mun’e). 1. A standard piece of gold, silver, copper, nickel etc. stamped by government authority and used as a medium of exchange and measure of value; coin or coins. 2. Any paper note issued by a government or authorized bank and used in the same way. 3. Any substance or article, as bank notes, checks, etc. used as money.”
Money then, is used to purchase things, and pay for them. Notice, that in the dictionary definitions of money, nothing is said about saving in money. Monies of different nations, are always, like the weather, changing every day, and are a terrible way to save, anywhere. The ‘lifetime,’ of any money, can be long or short. In America, the money we use, has had a life span of a hundred years. The dollar, has lost at least 95% or more, of its purchasing power in a hundred years. In post WW I Germany, the value of the reichsmark, was about three or four years, from an American silver quarter, to absolute zero. The same thing has happened to monies around the world, at various times, but they all have ended in zero. No exceptions, other than time. The reasons for reaching no value, is because their issuers were the printers, and the more they printed, the less they became worth. (Stott’s Law.)
Here’s the dictionary’s definition of gold. “GOLD. (gold). A heavy, inert, yellow, metallic, chemical element, which is highly ductile and malleable: It is a precious metal, and is used in the manufacture of coins and jewelry, alloys etc. Symbol – au.” How about silver? “SILVER. (sil var): a soft, white, metallic, chemical element, that is extremely ductile and malleable. An excellent reflector of light, and is the best metallic conductor of heat and electricity: It is a precious metal, and is used in the manufacture of coins, jewelry, alloys, etc. Symbol ag.”
“Bell, book, and candle, shall not drive me back, when gold and silver becks me to come on.” Shakespeare. (King John – 1605).
We don’t buy things with silver and gold, at least not currently, nor do we make payments on loans, and bills, with gold and silver, although we used to, when the dollar was backed by gold and silver, plus the coins were made of silver. Even the pennies were made of copper, and nickels made of nickel. The last copper penny, was made forty years ago, and the copper with which they were made, makes them worth three cents in copper, and going up in antique value, as well as metal prices increasing.
If You can’t buy anything, or make payments with anything except with American dollars, why not save in them? Trying to store wealth in dollars, is almost exactly like trying to store water in a leaky bucket, no matter how slowly it leaks, because the end result, is an empty bucket. Storing purchasing power, or value, in dollars, may seem to be wise to you, because we have to use them to buy and pay, but they are a leaky bucket. The dollar is losing value, but like other currencies, we don’t know how long it will take to gradually or quickly lose value, till it is worthless. Next week? Next year? No one knows what will happen a half-hour from now. Will there be a fire? Car accident? Heart attack? Sudden death? That’s why we have insurance against things that happen quickly or suddenly. Those insurances, we should have. We have Humana, with no premiums, for our health. Dollar denominated longer term insurance, requires monthly premiums to keep them in effect, and its benefits remain the same in dollars. Gold and silver insurance, require no premiums. They just sit there, going up in dollar value. Saving in dollars, or longer-term insurance denominated in dollars, for happenings years ahead, is silly. The dollar benefits of commercial insurance decrease, as the value of the dollar proceeds to zero value. You get the same number of dollars as the policy indicates, but of what value are they, if the dollar has lost its purchasing power? When I was a teen, making 50 cents an hour, a $5,000 life insurance policy, would be adequate. With nickel Hershey Bars, Nickel Cokes, dime car fare and movies, $275 new Model T’s, and 20 cent a gallon gasoline, $5,000 would carry you on for many years. Today, after 70 years of making payments, it would be a joke, and not even pay for a cheap funeral. Think of the 70 years of payments.
We’ve all seen street-corner interviews, which indicate most people know nothing about our history, government, or even current events. Probably 95% or more, of the population of any nation, are ignoramuses, and will go down with the rest, when horrible times come. They watch commercial TV, read virtually nothing, and like an old political party in the 1850’s, they are among the “No Nothings.” It’s frightening to realize, that Biden and AOC were actually elected. Does that illustrate the mental condition of most of the world? Save in gold and silver, not in decaying dollars.
-Don Stott- don@coloradoghold.com