Silver and Gold Bartering, Now and Post-Societal Collapse, by T.R.

Over the last few years, since awaking from my slumber that rainbows and butterflies come from baby gnomes, I have been preparing my bean, bullets and bullion for what ever may be on the other side of the eye of the hurricane, so to speak. Whether that event is the eventual collapse of not only the US dollar but currencies globally or some apocalyptic end of society as it currently exists. In that time I have found great interest in the financial aspect of this scenario. As a project manager I find that some variables in a project are non-linear and can not be evaluated on risk because of not knowing what you don’t know, this is not the case with the global nature of macro-economics and fiat currencies.
I plan a project by evaluating variables and risks to the scope and timeline of completion, that being said I have approached my preparation in similar manner. Since the more information you can obtain on particular variable it allows you put in place contingencies to mitigate the effects of a variable, such as a global financial/currency collapse, you can therefore weather the disruption that variable creates. Risk areas such as EMPs, natural disasters, terrorist activities etc are variables that you can only have so much information in regards to planning-unless of course your brother-in-law happens to work for the NSA or other alphabet soup agency that track such things and evaluate the probability.

But the information on our financial condition is well documented and there are many well respected economists and analysts that provide commentary on our situation no only as a country but also from a global connection. My journey has begun and continues to be how our US Dollar has fallen to the state of every other fiat currency throughout the ages. Whether it was the Romans debasing their gold and silver coinage or the Weimar Republic printing Marks like Rumplestilskin spun gold-in fact I am not too sure that Ben Bernanke is not our very own Rumplestilskin, just that he is not spinning gold. Prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve our dollar was backed by Constitutionally mandated Silver and Gold, at the onset of this vile organization the average wage was around $1,800 per year. (That equated to approximately 90 ounces of gold.  I would like to suggest everyone read G. Edward Griffin’s book, The Creature from Jekyll Island, to get a true sense of how evil and sinister this corporation is, ) That $1,800 average salary in 1913 equates roughly to today’s average wage of $42,000 per year. If you were to be paid in gold and silver as your great grandfather was, today you would only receive around 27 ounces of gold for your labor. (At the current Spot Gold price). Interesting over all this time that the Federal Reserve has had control of the US Dollar each generation really has not been better off, in fact I would argue that I would rather have my great grandfather’s wage of 90 ounces of gold per year, equal to $136,000 USD. The Federal Reserve has expertly stolen our wealth with out it being a crime.

At this point you are probably wondering where I am going with this. I know I am preaching to the choir on this subject of owning and holding physical silver and gold, but that is only after you have made provision for the beans and bullets. Once those are in place I highly recommend that you purchase and hold silver and/or gold (preferably in fractions of ounces, 1,2,5,10 grams and 1/20, 1/10, ¼ ounces) I say all of this because I believe we are currently in the eye of the hurricane. For those that don’t live in a hurricane zone, the front part of the storm is the initial wall of wind and water, it is scary and can be devastating, but as the eye passes over your location, you can go out look up and see nothing but blue sky, no wind, no rain and you may actually see a butterfly. To those that have not experience a hurricane you may believe it was nothing but a bad rain storm, but I can tell you the storm is not over and in fact the worst is yet to come. I believe we are currently in the eye of the storm, the initial wall of water and wind was the housing bubble of 2007 and we have endured the storms leading edge to now all seems quiet, calm. Stocks are steady, companies are showing profits but simmering under the surface is 10 to 20% plus food inflation, 20% real unemployment, a continual lag in the housing market if not a continually collapse, unsustainable national, state and local debts that can only be salvaged by the Federal Reserve. This is to name only a few, do not forget rising oil and gas prices. Their whether they are spinning US Dollars or real gold it still creates something from nothing and debases the currency and fuels the fires of inflation and destruction of the US Dollar and other currencies worldwide. The other side of the storm is a currency collapse that will be global in nature, which will lead to variables that will spin out of control very quickly and if you are not prepared to weather the storm to get to the other side you will be running to the first government savior to literally sign yours and your family’s life away.

My preparations began by converting about two years ago every dollar denominated asset such as Roth IRAs and 401(k)s to first food, then guns and ammunition and finally silver and gold. With only one small bump in the road I have been able to grow my physical holdings and continue to do so even with current silver and gold prices. Many ask me why when the rainbows and butterflies are out, I my reply is that someday the financial storm we weathered in 2007 will require not only the preservation of my savings but may be required for mine and my family’s survival. To those who are still slumbering they roll their eyes but to those that are awake or are just waking up this will ring true to your spirit. I urge you to continue to speak the truth of what we will be facing in very short order, hope upon all hope to reach as many as possible.

My dilemma has been that to purchase goods and services with silver or gold you must first sell it to convert it back to US Dollars, the process is cumbersome to say the least. Because of the cumbersome process I starting searching for a better way. Currently I am purchasing fewer one ounce rounds and more pre-1964 silver halves, quarters and dimes, and the following will explain why.

I follow Franklin Sanders of MoneyChanger.com, who has been dealing with silver and gold for years and his commentaries are usually spot on. He has developed a Silver and Gold calculator and is encouraging people to start asking when making a purchase “I can pay you with silver, gold or US Dollars, which would you like?” There may be a sense of fear in light of the recent Liberty Coin Federal case, but his issue dealt with the appearance of the coin and it representation of US Coinage, not that a private exchange between two individuals can be regulated (yet). Franklin Sanders reports that in some cases they will take the silver and gold and give you a discount on the purchase. Now I don’t suggest you try this with the local corporately owned Gas Mart or Wal-Mart, but maybe a local privately own Gas station convenience store, farmer, Co-op, etc. would be more receptive to the idea. So many of us that have awakened to realize that part of returning to some normalcy or even a return to the Founder’s principles we must start by eliminating the Federal Reserve. This task will probably never be achieved but at least it allows you the modicum of stealing back some degree of freedom from the fiat system by using real money. If our legislatures do not have the fortitude to fix it, the people will have to take the mantle upon themselves.

Franklin Sanders has a calculator to convert US Dollars to silver and gold. All that is necessary is to plug in the amount in US dollars the purchase requires and it calculates the amount of face value of US pre-1964 coins you need. I recently purchase three chickens at our local poultry auction using this formula for $27.61 in US Dollars or .98 cents in silver coinage. I exchanged three US pre-1964 silver quarters, two silver dimes and three copper pre-1982 pennies. A small victory!

Chickens purchased with silver, Price $27.61 USD with silver:

$0.98 face value of US Silver Coins worth USD $27.61 **
But it also works with large purchases such as a $1800 purchase which would convert as follows:

Pay $1,800.00 with gold & silver…

American Eagle gold coins:
1 $50 (1 oz) coin worth USD $1,539.68
1 $5 (1/10 oz) coin worth USD $153.97
and $3.58 face value of US silver coins worth USD $106.35 **
This site calculates and provides the amounts you need it also allows you to calculate a premium if you are a retailer interested in offering your product or service in silver and gold, I am hoping he turns into an App for I-phones or Blackberry in the near future.

If you notice all the conversions use US denominate coinage. Since American Eagles, both Silver and Gold, are legal US tender and pre-1964 coinage is still US approved tender. You will not be trying to “destroy the US Currency” with privately minted coins as the US District Attorney in her infinite wisdom announced about the Liberty Dollar. There can be no legal ramifications in restricting bartering especially if you are using US sanctioned coinage. And that goes to my last point in purchasing silver and that is to start procuring pre-1964 silver halves, quarters, dimes, pre-1982 pennies, and current and early nickels for use in a bartering system either now or in a post-collapse society. They will become your initial life in a post-fiat collapse society.