This argument is oft-repeated, but rarely do I find folks understand (in spite of ALL their arguments that we'll be on the gold and silver kick "very soon!"). It comes down to tax law. Gold and silver are taxable transactions, meaning even IF we make it possible to trade them as legal tender, as long as it's based on WEIGHT, the trade won't work. This is exactly why people hoarded silver in the 1860s during the civil war... and why England's UK economy just about collapsed when China refused to take anything but silver as payment for goods (which resulted in massive loss of silver out of the UK economy... which incidentally is why Smuggling Opium was so popular... it was a way to get silver OUT of China)....
The moment the value of the metal becomes more than the value of the coin, it'll drop out of circulation. It happened with Large Cents, it happened with Silver coins. Fiat doesn't mean "Fake." And just because silver was used 2000 years ago, doesn't also mean that cowrie shells weren't... or cut stones, or grain, or whatever... But it came down to WEIGHTS... and trading of such things was limited to small geographic areas. You could charge enormous fees in one area and not be worried that 1000 miles away the same good was 100x cheaper. In today's economy things are VERY different...
This so called "day of reckoning" will result in goods being the trade value, and paper currency (if devalued that way), will not be the primary medium of trade. People have to WANT silver to be willing to trade with it... and do you really think that if the day of reckoning comes, people will be like, 'OH! I'm starving, but you have a silver dime, I'm willing to trade for THAT!" If you think that's the case, check out Venezuela. Inflation is inflation, and you're going to have to either pay a bucket load of bills or a bucket load of silver for a scarce good. Doesn't matter which.
Sure, hedge some of your wealth into silver, but don't believe all the hype that precious metals alone will protect you. It certainly didn't for everyone who bought silver at $40 an ounce.
Skippy
People really want to believe