Saving money to buy preps

[CharlesHarris]

I’ve been following the ongoing collapse in Venezuela with interest. People are shooting each other in the streets over food – not ammo, cigarettes, liquor, gold coins, silver coins, or any of the other crap that preppers love to stockpile “for barter when TSHTF”.

Turns out that good old-fashioned food is the only thing that you can actually eat in a collapse, and as worthless as the Venezuelan bolivar is right now, “sound money” is pretty much totally absent from all the discussions.

Venezuelans “holding physical”, could possibly exchange that stuff for bolivars, but given the very tight currency controls that the country is under right now. They won’t be getting USD for it, and they certainly aren’t going to trade it for food, because, again, there is no food.

In a collapse, food is scarce and people are hungry. Nobody is going to trade you a KrugerRand or a box of 12-bore cartridges for a chicken, because unlike the latter two things chickens are edible, and edible stuff takes priority.

(I think gold has its place in any portfolio, but as insurance, not speculation.)

As the Venezuelan collapse illustrates, you need to have your priorities straight.

A dependable source of calories should top the list. Don’t get suckered into wasting money, time, and space on stuff you can’t consume but that you think someone will trade you a bit of their food for, because you’re certain to be gravely disappointed.