So, when society collapses, and some folks have a few small bars of gold stashed away in their basements, how will bartering with that bar of gold be accomplished?
I can imagine a gold coin will have some small nominal value, say $100-$200, but a solid bar of gold will be very hard to break apart. What's a poor boy to do? I certainly don't think it's a wise idea to trade a small bar of gold for a loaf of homemade bread. How will that transaction be completed?
Yea, I know some redneck gold hoarders will step in and roll their eyes at my question because they've already broken their bars down into something, but please tell me what that something is.
Thanks.
Realistically, we likely will not resort to barter. If an entire collapse of our digital economic world occured and we couldn't process transactions digitally, we'd basically be sent back to the stone age, which in effect is basically the same result as nuclear war (just without the radiation).
I see Bitcoin being the king of currency with it's reliability, portability, and convenience. No one would use gold to barter unless it would be for extremely expensive things like houses. Silver would likely be the next contender for day-to-day things as a physical option.
Well, not stone age. Simply the time before paper-money. That is before the 18th century.
The totality of the global supply chain will commence with different means, means we already have. It will be somewhat more difficult and smaller, perhaps.
Consider an order for Jamaica Rum. There are ships sailing between several locations, to deliver Rum at different ports. The same type of papers are used like we have for the last 1000 odd years. See for example: Hanse League.
On top, beyond paper, there will be greater emphasis on personal connection and trust. So, I would not say stone age. But I do recognize that our dependence on digital assets, be they computers, printers, internet, the like, will get a huge hit.
Authentication will become important in a different way.