Overstock.com Has $10M in Gold and Silver Hidden Somewhere in Utah

* Cook in it, clearly

* Use it as a shovel

* Sit on it

* Drink out of it, or eat out of it

* Use it as a toilet (might want two pots)

* Use it to collect fruits and berries you gather

* Use it to collect rainwater

* Conk people/animals/zombies over the head with it

* Sharpen the lip by rubbing it against some rocks and use it as a knife

* Use it as a helmet during the radioactive hailstorms

That's just what I've come up with in a few minutes of thinking. Other than conking you can't do any of the above with a gold brick.

There would probably a few currencies and exchange rates floating around. One of which would be gold.

There might be an argument for nuclear power stations and similar critical infrastructure companies to have such a stockpile, although even there (a) the military would probably step in, and (b) it's likely that Bouillon would be a more useful thing to stockpile than Bullion.

That worked in Greece because they used the Euro, which meant that the currency was solvent based on its association with countries that had better credit than Greece itself.

If the US had a Greek-style loss of credibility, the dollar would surely take a massive hit, as its value lies solely on our credibility. Since we don't have a Germany to point to as the currency's savior, it's very possible that American vendors wouldn't accept cash (USD) and would prefer something that has value independent of governmental decree (precious metals).

Actually, it makes some sense (ignoring any irrationality in the fear itself): if its a fairly short-term problem that seems recoverable, you preserve your staff relations, and are ahead of competitors who either collapsed or wound down and now have to wind back up.

If its a longer-term problem, you have a hoard of valuables, a body of workers you can pay with those valuables, and you can pivot to a new business model. The initial set of workers may not be ideal for whatever that new model is ("warlords of Utah"?), but, again, you start out ahead of those that haven't prepared, and have some cushion to manage a transition.

This happens all. the. time. The USD lost 33% of its real value between 1977 and 1981 while Gold increased in value in real terms by 65% during the same time period. USD itself has been reasonably stable since, but there's no guarantee that will continue.

I'm not a crazy goldbug, I don't think we should go around trading gold shavings with each other in our day-to-day lives, but it's an indisputable fact that Gold is an excellent hedge against financial and currency crises the likes of which happen somewhere in the world all the time. Hell, right now Russia is in a currency crisis where the Ruble has lost 50% of its value in less than two years.