...I read somewhere that in the 1960's, a silver quarter (25¢) could buy you a gallon of gas.

Today, of course, you'd need fifteen of those quarters to buy a gallon of gas ($3.75) HOWEVER, the silver content in one of those 1960's era (or earlier) quarters is worth about as much as that same gallon of gas.

Does it not seem as though backing currency via precious metals is more "stable"?

I mean, our current currency is backed by an "I.O.U." from the government.

I don't fully understand it.

Are we (the general public) better off hoarding gold & silver instead of dollar bills???

PurpleJedi said:

...I read somewhere that in the 1960's, a silver quarter (25¢) could buy you a gallon of gas.

Today, of course, you'd need fifteen of those quarters to buy a gallon of gas ($3.75) HOWEVER, the silver content in one of those 1960's era (or earlier) quarters is worth about as much as that same gallon of gas.

Does it not seem as though backing currency via precious metals is more "stable"?

I mean, our current currency is backed by an "I.O.U." from the government.

I don't fully understand it.

Are we (the general public) better off hoarding gold & silver instead of dollar bills???

yes

PurpleJedi said:

...I read somewhere that in the 1960's, a silver quarter (25¢) could buy you a gallon of gas.

Today, of course, you'd need fifteen of those quarters to buy a gallon of gas ($3.75) HOWEVER, the silver content in one of those 1960's era (or earlier) quarters is worth about as much as that same gallon of gas.

Does it not seem as though backing currency via precious metals is more "stable"?

I mean, our current currency is backed by an "I.O.U." from the government.

I don't fully understand it.

Are we (the general public) better off hoarding gold & silver instead of dollar bills???

Maybe. The price of silver and gold can go up faster than inflation, which is good for you. But it can also go down, which would be diasterous for you.

If you save dollars, they will always be at the mercy of inflation and interest rates. If you're getting more interest than you're losing in inflation, you're a net winner. But if inflation is hgher than interest rates, you're a net loser.

The thing is, though, that you'll probably never gain much or lose much in dollars with respect to inflation.

With gold and silver, you can gain a lot, but you can lose a lot, too.

Not too long ago, I saw a segment on Nightline or some similar show, about penny hoarders. I don't remember the exact details, but basically pennies that were minted prior to 1982(?) contain a small percentage of real copper (which is usually always in demand). So those pennies are technically worth more than one cent, if one were to melt them down and extract the copper. However, because they are still in circulation, it is illegal to destroy them or sell them for anything more than $.01. These people have 5-gallon buckets full of pre-1982 pennies, hundreds of thousands of them, just sitting around. At least one person had a machine that will separate the pre-1982 pennies from the post by their weight. There is a whole sub-market for "copper" pennies on ebay, etc. The hoarders are just waiting for the moment the Federal Reserve takes these pennies out of circulation so they can sell them for the value of the copper.

I've thought about buying gold; the price per ounce has gone up by hundreds of dollars just within the last 6 months. Someone is always going to be interested in buying gold. You can't say the same about dollars, euros, bahts, etc. But like Rodeo said, the lows will also be lower. I would use it as a long-term investment, not a quick cash scheme.

[Edited 12/30/11 8:48am]

I may have to start advising people to SAVE YOUR MONEY because the more money you earn, the government will take away so you better start saving it up...

As for gold and silver, I have to agree with Rodeo on that also. Everybody wants gold and silver but when it becomes part of the economy, it would probably do the same thing they do to dollars.

PurpleJedi said:

...I read somewhere that in the 1960's, a silver quarter (25¢) could buy you a gallon of gas.

Today, of course, you'd need fifteen of those quarters to buy a gallon of gas ($3.75) HOWEVER, the silver content in one of those 1960's era (or earlier) quarters is worth about as much as that same gallon of gas.

Does it not seem as though backing currency via precious metals is more "stable"?

I mean, our current currency is backed by an "I.O.U." from the government.

I don't fully understand it.

Are we (the general public) better off hoarding gold & silver instead of dollar bills???

I am in the process of SELLING off all my gold and silver ~ the vacation that will come from it is going to be amazing !

Gold is bringing in approx 1,400 $ an ounce right now ( it has droped a bit the last couple months but still ! )