Austria Witnesses New Gold Rush
October 12th, 2008Welcome to the public participation phase.
Via: BBC:
Ordinary Austrians, shocked by the precipitous falls in their own stock market – which was suspended this week for the first time ever – are also looking for a more solid store of wealth.
The shop at the Austrian Mint usually specialises in selling collectors’ coins. But these days, a number of customers are buying bullion there – in bulk.
I saw one middle-aged couple handing over thousands of euros in cash, in exchange for dozens of 1oz Vienna Philharmonic gold coins.
A little later, a Viennese pensioner took a thick wad of 500-euro notes out of her handbag, and gave it to the sales assistant. He sold her a large gold bar, which looked as though it weighed a kilo.
“I have taken one piece of gold,” she told me.
“You see, I am old, and I have earned money all my life and now I have the money in the bank and I am afraid of the financial situation, that it will disappear. Gold is safe, I think.”
If the economy collapses and we get a Financial New World Order with a gold-backed currency, I would place the probability of private gold ownership being made illegal globally at around 98%.
I store my gold in Zurich as well, but this is to allow them to steal it from me without killing me.
Everyone else remembers how Germany balanced the books in the 1940? These Austrian gold bars will be about as safe as gold teeth.
I love this following article about flatlander’s fantasy of escaping to the remote country with guns and generators. HA HA!
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjun08/survival6-08.html
Let’s say things have gotten bad, and the flatlander is burrowed into his cabin. Eventually some locals will come up to visit; in a truck if there’s gas, on foot if there isn’t. We won’t be armed; we’re not interested in taking the flatlander’s life or goodies. We just want to know what kind of person he is. So maybe we’ll ask to borrow his generator for a town dance, or tell him about the church food drive, or maybe ask if he’s seen so-and-so around.
Now what’s the flatlander going to do when several unarmed men approach? Gun them down? Once he’s faced with regular unarmed guys, he can’t very well conclude they’re a threat and warn them off. But if he does, then we’ll know he’s just another selfish flatlander. He won’t get any help later when he needs it; or it will be minimal and grudging. He just counted himself out.
Suppose some bad guys hear about the flatlander’s hideway and stash. All it takes to stalk any prey is patience and observation; and no matter how heavily armed the flatlander is, he’ll become vulnerable at some point to a long-range shot. (Even body armor can’t stop a headshot or a hit to the femoral artery in the thigh.) Maybe he stays indoors for 6 days, or even 60. But at some point the windmill breaks or the dog needs walking or what have you, and he emerges–and then he’s vulnerable. The more visible and stringent the security, the more he’s advertising the high value of his depot.
And of course guarding a high-value stash alone is problematic for the simple reason that humans need to sleep.
So creating a high-value horde in a remote setting is looking like just about the worst possible strategy in the sense that the flatlander has provided a huge incentive to theft/robbery and also provided a setting advantageous to the thief or hunter.
If someone were to ask this “hick” for a less risky survival strategy, I would suggest moving into town and start showing a little generosity rather than a lot of hoarding. If not in town, then on the edge of town, where you can be seen and heard.