Balázs Stumpf-Biró - Ghost Money
Basically, fictional money, the set of numbers in binary code (01101...) in your bank account, does not exist. If you like, it is not even part of the real economy. Accordingly, when a commonly agreed world order (monetary, economic, social) loses its equilibrium and then collapses, everything that was the subject of that agreement loses its meaning, or at least its value. We do not even need to look into the future to see this, just think of the unrealistic German hyperinflation after the First World War and the Hungarian hyperinflation after the Second World War, which put it on the back burner. You received your salary in a suitcase, but by the time you got to the shop you hadn't received a sausage. My grandmother told me how in one such case the suitcase was stolen... the suitcase(!), not the money!
But that won't happen now either, because in a few years the world's first completely cashless societies (Sweden) will be born, and this model will spread very quickly. Let's start from what we have: not from a friendly epidemic, but from one that will kill, say, one in three people. What does the state say? It takes the opportunity and bans cash... saying (rightly) that it spreads the infection. True, there is nothing dirtier than money... in every sense of the word. So, what you call money will remain 01101...
What happens to these numbers in a total financial collapse? We don't even have to imagine ourselves in Mad Max's world... just think of the poor Greeks or Cypriots... who spent weeks scraping the walls of the bank but couldn't access the money "in there". But at least they were promised it was there... and once they had it... well, what was left, guaranteed by the state. This currently ranges up to €100,000 in the EU. The rest... well, sorry.
So, according to the study, the following levels exist, or will become a reality as the process moves forward. Once again, it's all there today... the emphasis will shift from one to the other... steadily, or very quickly.
Account money
Not much to say about this, it is, and will be, until it isn't. What you can do to reduce its vulnerability is to store it in multiple currencies and (yes) bank accounts in multiple countries. With regard to the latter, you need to consider that it should be a country with as stable an economy, political establishment, financial culture and infrastructure as possible. For indeed (this is another study), countries are ranked in terms of how resilient they are to change (relative to others), i.e. how slowly or quickly they fall apart. Not surprisingly, those with the conditions listed above will last much longer. In other words, we need to develop as intensively as possible here in the Carpathian Basin, because it makes a difference from where we will slide downwards...
Cash
Keep it until you have it. Either in a bank vault or, like your old mother, in a duffle bag. It's important - even if it's just banknotes - to have as many different currencies as possible that seem more stable. It is not yet possible to determine how long his career will last, but from the time that bill money becomes inaccessible to the time that only the suitcase is stolen... he will be the master!
Precious metal
Consider this a collective term. By this you can mean gold, silver, platinum and even precious stones. But this category can also include anything that, in some way, has value to someone. In this situation, of course, it is up to him or her to determine whether or not to give you a warm egg for your Fabergé. Because these will only be worthwhile as long as they are still worth something to someone somewhere. This period (as in the case of a war) can last from the complete devaluation of cash to quite a long time, by which I mean until we reach the lowest level... What else is important to remember about this category is that everything should be as small as possible: not only for the sake of transportability, but also for the sake of redeemability!
Raw materials and resources
Yes, this is the bottom of the barrel, and none of us really want to experience it that way. I will therefore not go into a detailed list. Because it includes everything you can eat, drink (although water is the real value, but you can pay for it by taking a shit while you're still human), heat yourself with, protect yourself with! And yes... what the oligarchs of the round world are already richly collecting: land... fertile, water-base, shade, defensible... in a good place!
When these phases will occur and how long they will last... no one will honestly tell you... simply because they cannot know. What you can do is start to plan and think strategically. You diversify, which means, if you can, you develop all four at the same time. And then you have nothing left to do about it, except what will be the hardest thing:
You have to watch carefully for the moment when the world switches from one to the other... because you have to do it before the others!
