Americans are Hoarding Money

Tell her she would be beating inflation by buying at todays dollar value as compared to the future dollar value after inflation eats it up. Five dollars spent today may be ten dollars in the pocket in ten years as an example.

Just wish I could make gas last ten or twenty years.. Now that would be real value!

 

I have gas I've stored in sealed up air tight 55 gallon drums 10 years now and dipped out of it just recently and it's good fuel.
Trick is it must remain sealed up and as little air space in side as possible so the fuel cannot gasify.
If ventilated or too much air space it will vaporize and the liquid become lacquer ,stinky an good for nothing .

 

Claiming $3,700 in savings is hoarding / wrong is so facepalm.
Especially with our long term economic outlook as bleak as it is.

 

What about all those rich folks with numbered accounts in foreign banks? Sounds like hoarding to me.

 

Actually , if the dollar tanks they are out more than a homeless bigger in the street .

 

*scratches head* when did saving become hoarding?

 

You are assuming of course that the offshore monies are in dollars.
Mine are not.

 

Doesn't matter the type - money is money. Them what holds the most lord it over us who have little.
The pretender obama was working to take all loose monies we had over and above what we needed to live on.

 

I favor the old legendary Pacific Island concept, where the "King" enjoys his limited term. Then he gets tossed into the volcano. Seems fair.

 

USD paper & paper stocks are worthless when it fails !!
Reichsmark
Reichsmark - Wikipedia

Time 4 Schoolin , Ya's are so there , we also

 

How many food and household items have gotten cheaper lately? Nothing comes to mind... Whatever you put away now will be had for the cheapest you're ever likely to get it. Food for thought.

 

i AGREE , We have been thinking this way for a while also

 

I can't think of anything that has gotten cheaper. The Forster Tap-o-cap was about the same price from the 1970's until it was discontinued, but It's an oddity. If you adjust your view of prices to include historic wages, some things seem more reasonable. ...Some things.

For most workers, real wages have barely budged for decades

Two estimates of price increases/dates that I can recall off the top of my head.

Cigarettes 1982 $0.50 a pack, Now...anything under $3 seems like a sale (I quit smoking cigarettes 10 Nov 1982) Fifty-five cents a pack was just too much for Lucky Strikes.

Beer 1982 $2 a six pack for Hamm's (cheapest beer available) Now...a 30 pack of Genesee is under $12. ($2.40 a six pack) Not too bad considering my wages then and now.

Perhaps the good news for older folks (collectors/hoarders) is that the old junk in the barn and basement could be a gold mine. My father was an early E-bay seller, and financed many vacations and cruises selling old stuff online. It IS all about the presentation, and with overseas buyers in the mix nowadays, some auctions I've watched have become pretty exciting.

 

@Oddcaliber your pricing increases made me laugh beer and cigarettes.

mine is bananas when i got out on my own they wee 9-10 cents a lb, now they are 60cents a lb. my income didnt increase 6x in 30 years.

 

It's only 'dirty paper'.

 

"As worthless as a Continental" or "not worth a continental"
Not Worth a Continental - International Man

The continental was paper money. It had occurred to the colonists that, as their revolution was costing quite a bit to maintain, they could go into “temporary” debt to finance the war. Soon it became clear that the debt could not be repaid. Also, the printing of paper banknotes resulted in inflation. The solution? Print more of them. Further devaluation of the continental motivated the colonists to print more… then more… then still more. The continental became worthless, either for local trade or for repayment of debt.

The new country, the United States, then did something quite unusual. In its new Constitution, it created a clause to assure that this would never happen again. Under Article I, Section 10, the states were not permitted to “coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; [or] make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”

The founding fathers of the US had figured out that the issuance of paper currency was a disaster in the making, and in 1792, passed the Coinage Act, denominating coins to be minted. The act authorized three gold coins: $10.00 eagles, $5.00 half eagles, and $2.50 quarter eagles, in addition to silver coins.

Sadly, even this is no longer allowed. However - so called Private Currency is making a comeback.

 

I spent a lot of time and text in my book, Aftermath, looking at alternative currencies and barter and why those might or might not work.

For a society to progress and grow, some kind of money is needed, as not everything can be handled by direct barter....