Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 16, 2011

Just wait until they invent the GUN!

A guy I know was so certain that we’d be in economic chaos by now that he bought a substantial amount of gold. He kept prodding me that I should be buying some as well.

I assured him that I had bought sufficient amounts of lead. If it became a significant issue, I’d be by to pick up his gold.

Banks are glad to loan you money if you can convince them you don’t need it.

Who didn’t see the last panel coming from a mile away!!

Things haven’t changed much, have they.

In rl, the rich have also have the weapons to protect their wealth.

In 2000, the richest 10% of population accounted for 85% of total assets worldwide. That means, one person out of ten gets a whopping 8 1/2 pieces of the economic pie all to themselves. While the other nine slobs get to fight over remaining 1 1/2 pieces of pie.

All monetary systems, like a game of Monopoly, will eventually end when the distribution of wealth is too lopsided. When this happens, only the skills you possess and the tangible wealth you can protect, not paper money or numbers stored in a computer, will be of any value.

Ultimately, the only things of any value are those that provide food, shelter or warmth. Gold serves none of those needs, so it has no intrinsic value. When the world economy collapses, I’d much rather be here on my farm where I can grow my own food than in a house in the city with a basement full of gold. (And that guy’s stick is worth a lot more than that pretty rock, since the stick can be burned for warmth.)

Remember what happened to the civilization that outlawed the bow and arrow?

Why not, do you suppose?

He should have kept the club too, then he’d have both wealth and power.

That rock has been the standard for 12,000 years at least. Sticks keep breaking or rotting. That rock can make computers, space rockets, and young girls spend the weekend. That stick may get you arrested. Sticks may make the man think he’s sexier, but rocks make the women think he is. Rocks 10—Sticks 0

Dibs on the stick market.

^Not to mention, if you throw the rock at the guy with the stick, you have a better - long distance - weapon. Just ask Goliath.

Well put, Lewreader

And the rock has a rather stable value as well. 2000 years ago, an ounce of gold would get a Roman citizen a really nice toga. Today, an ounce of gold will buy you a quite nice suit.

Which means that gold is a good standard for currency, but a bad long term investment.

Wrong count, lew: Rocks-12000 humans-0.

Neb gold is always a backstop as it keeps up with inflation. It should never be a total investment. And notice that it’s worth is still counted in dollars.

The US buck has been the real Gold standard for years. That’s coming to an end. The Chinese are trying, but the Euro will take over as will whatever the Iraqis end up with. Their war economy is actually so bouyed by ours they are now viewed as a better investment than us. Keep track when they move their capital to the rebuilt Babylon as a compromise with the warring sects. Sorry, just quoting from prophesy. Even if you think it’s fiction, it has to be better than the so- called economists we’ve been listening to.

Nab, a nice suit of finery equal to the Romans toga would run you $5000 and gold isn’t quite that good today.

They also paid their soldiers with a handful of grain a day for rations and citizenship when they mustered out.. think any of our guys would sign up for that?

What’s valuable is what you think is valuable. It’s really that simple.

Basic economic theory meets basic human nature. And loses.

My pound of feathers is warmer and weighs more and better protection than a pound of gold .

@ Destiny23

Where do you think those city dwellers will go when they get hungry? Just like Clarissa Jones,”You’ve got to go to sleep sometime.”

Whats with the guy who thinks he’s an owl

I was hoping the last panel would be the start of baseball.

The guy walking off with the pretty rock and no stick should stop and consider what happened to the last guy who had the pretty rock and no stick.

there was a comment with a site link in it - now i no longer see it

……….?

If the economy collapsed and you had hoarded all that gold. Do you really think it will keep you fed and clothed? Knowing how to do for others will keep you better than gold. bleeep, must be Sunday.

Right on FishStix!

Saw that coming a mile away.

I agree. Knowing how to provide really useful services is the most important skill (because what others need is ALWAYS of value). That is what I have always considered in a potential husband as well- never present wealth or looks.

Hi FishStix! I think your comment has some validity to it when there is equal access to education and the basic needs of life (food, clothing, shelter, and let’s throw in clean water). However, it kind of breaks down when considering societies that don’t have access to these things (because of government instability, corruption, oppression, etc.). The brightest child in the world could very well be suffering from malnutrition and disease in a third-world country, and while giving him some money (and some education on how to use it) may not make him as rich as the wealthiest bankers, it would probably better his situation dramatically. I don’t mean to say that all money in the world should just be divided evenly amongst all its inhabitants, but the hypothesis that the wealthy people fairly earned all their money and that poor people just didn’t try hard enough and got what they deserved can only be fairly tested if they all started from the same place with the same access to opportunity.

Um, my comments have nothing to do with today’s comic strip, so I will just say that I thought it was funny, although I think the guy with the stick should have kept the stick while taking the gold (they work great together in practice). Of course, that wouldn’t be very nice of him.

Oops - my comment was way too long. Sorry! I’m still learning the ropes.

Stick to ur head… Now u r dead… Ur gold is now mine… It’s weight so divine… C how it shines… But does it make me a decent human being?

I’ll join his “club”.

Funny. He didn’t look like Glenn Beck.

When Germany’s economy collapsed after WW2, people litterally had wheelbarrows of money to buy a loaf of bread. Gold is useless if there are no basic commodities.

Germany’s economy collapsed in WWI

^well, in and just after WWI (known at the time as “The Great War” - ‘Great’ as in ‘Huge’) which led to the Third Reich and WWII when frantic people signed off on a Really Bad Idea.

“Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” –Hermann Goering, during the Nuremberg trials, 18 April 1946