(06-19-2017, 02:38 PM)Byron LeftTown Wrote: Fiat currency may have a current political or legal value, but that is separate from its inherent value.  The inherent value is what you are left with when the political or legal system goes away.

The rock has value because it is rare and has certain properties humans find valuable - shiny, conductive, malleable, ductile, etc.  It also holds these properties through time, which makes it useful as a storage of wealth.  If all governments went away tomorrow, the rock would still have value.

If governments went away and the paper currencies we currently use were worthless, I don't think gold or silver would have any inherent value at all.   Who is going to trade food for jewelry?   Who's going to need gold and silver for any manufactured goods when they can't get any credit from banks to build and run a factory?   There will no no manufacturers, because there will be no credit because there will be no financial system.   Therefore no use for gold and silver other than perhaps as the new fiat currency, but they for sure won't have any of the inherent value they have today.   

So what inherent value is left for gold and silver when the political and legal system go away?   Zero.

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