barter talk 2 of 2

BARTER TALK 2

Yesterday, I said to get silver, post haste.  It might just be more expensive than gold one day, the supply being an estimated ten times gold to silver.  Here is what I’d propose, since not all of us have extra funds falling out of our ass.  Look at the price of gold.  Ask yourself how much would be a minimum store of wealth.  Then buy that amount of silver.  It is a far better bet than crypto-currencies.  If all you can swing is five ounces, and that silver was worth $2,000 an ounce one day ( since gold is currently undervalued at $1300 ), problem solved.

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There is SOOOoooo many other items that have a much higher utility than gold or silver.  Because precious metals are a vehicle to transport wealth across a Dark Age, from when it has monetary value because of international trade to once that dynamic once again starts back up ( Dark Ages being characterized by essentially zero trade due to lack of a monopoly on force caused by a lack of a surplus of energy ).  All other items that hold an immediate survival value for you, your family and your tribe are much more valuable than precious metals, in the short and immediate term.

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Silver only has a LONG term value.  When village fights village over land for livestock, when each village must depend on its own immediate environment for ALL of its needs, silver will never lose its value but it can also NOT be used. There is no one to trade with.  Remember, silver and gold are valuable only because historically everyone accepted it as a global, universal trading currency.  Without trade, it is a currency only good for hoarding.  It NEVER loses its value, but that doesn’t mean it is always immediately tradable.

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Too many survivalists lose sight of this distinction.  One side says “you can’t eat gold” and the other side argues “gold never loses its value”, but both forget that the UTILITY of that gold is variable in time.  A young fertile female pleasing to the eye is always valuable, but without a suitable male with a bride price to marry her, you are stuck feeding the bitch.  Understand?  Gold has a holding price even if it never loses value.  So don’t look at hoarded silver as being worth X.  Look at it as wealth to be passed down, and forget about it.

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Look to other items for barter.  And only stock barter items that you yourself can use, so that they are never a burden to own.  You could say ammunition, and one day that rimfire brick you bellyached about because it now costs two and a half times its pre-2008 Great Depression price just might one day be an actual Bride Price in and of itself.  But I also look at ammunition as being a tool for your future role as a warrior in the tribe ( ignoring our advanced age, obviously ).

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If you barter ammo, you could be hurting your future job performance ( you want to be the LAST guy in your band of brothers, AND your enemies warrior group, to have to switch from smokeless powder to an inferior weapon ).  However, look at your water filter.  You can’t drink more than say, one gallon a day.  You could filter, and then sell that second gallon, but trust me on this, you do NOT want to piss off a fellow tribe member by being mercenary on certain things.  Like food or water or shelter.

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In a tribe, most things are communal, with only a few being open to barter.  You can save up for a bride, or buy extra horses, or give gifts, but you don’t mess with the basics of survival.  Defense and eating are reciprocal, communal, they are NOT open to the free market or to the forces of greed.  You don’t charge someone’s grandmother for life saving herbal medicine.  Just use common sense here, dammit.  Think barn raising, think communism in its positive aspects.  The guy you make a profit off of might one day question if he should save your life. 

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So, no, you don’t make yourself a for profit water company.  But it should be okay to sell a water filter ( sell, barter, gift, same thing ) if it brings about labor saving, leisure or luxury ( as opposed to a perceived life saving function.  They don’t NEED to buy your purified gallon of water, but the perception is you are profiting off of selling a life saving item.  The filter is just a convenience item, and they aren’t making any more ).  Don’t look at these things logically.  That isn’t how people think.  Look at it emotionally, as they do.

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Anyway, back to stocking barter items.  A water filter won’t be used as ammunition will.  You never know when a surprise enemy attack takes place, but odds are you are only drinking that one gallon a day.  You can more realistically calculate how long a filter will last, and then determine what filters you can barter.  And if you screw up, you can always just charcoal/sand filter and then boil the water.  All is not lost if you miscalculate.  Running out of ammo, on the other hand…oopse.  Not to say your filter will be accepted as barter, but odds are good.

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And, except for this little dip we currently see ( my best guess is the bankers are forcing the price below production cost to cover their out of control leverage silver derivatives with physical, and the mines have no choice as loans are due ), for a very long time the price of an ounce of silver, delivered, and the price for a Sawyer water filter ( the ten’s of thousands of gallons type ) were pretty close.  Rather than buying more silver, to barter, you spend the same to barter an item you can use and that can save your life.

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Don’t misunderstand.  Filters are not going to be THAT valuable long term.  There are too many natural alternatives.  But folks going from a sparkling clean tap water to river water full of human sewage ( even though many municipalities actually clean sewage and reuse the water, few understand this and so the Goss Out factor is different ) are going to want, if not necessarily need, water filters.  It is like the difference with propane verses wood in a rocket stove.  Same results, one is free and renewable, but the other is easy and a luxury. 

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There is also a certain small niche use militarily, as recon units will be Cold Camping and can’t boil their river water.  And I’m sure I missed a function or two.  So don’t panic if you never get more than enough for personal use and One Is None.  They will be nice but not vital.  But also carry far more utility than silver, at the same price.

( .Y. )

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