I take umbrage with the statement that gold and or silver are the only real money. When you get right down to it money is merely an idea. Nothing is really money if no one will accept it, and the mere fact that most but not all societies have historically based their currencies on the relative scarcity of gold does not make it real money, anything more than the round cut stones used for money in polynesian cultures. Anything can be money as long as people will accept it in trade for goods and services.
The proof of this is the fact that paper money has not been needed to be backed by gold to hold up as an exchange medium. What I will grant you is this. If there is a systemic shock to our economy people will want to know that their money is worth something and will only trade for things that they know are scarce and desirable. Then gold becomes money. If I can’t walk into Trader Joes and get a bottle of 2 buck chuck half a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread with it, it ain’t money. If I can it is.
