Post Apocalyptic Currency

[wfpdk]

booze... cause if booze was money, it'd really just be taking out the middle man.

 

[chieften]

bottlecaps and ketchup packets

 

[Wintermoot]

I think we will return to trading instead of actualy buying

 

[brodie21]

probably something small and in demand, like bullets or cigarettes. you know, for a while, the only accepted currency in west germany after world war 2 was cigarettes, because nobody trusted the cash and the black market was still thriving from the war

 

[Deleric]

BOTTLE CAPS.

 

[nomadic_chad]

I seriously doubt that bullets will be used as currency, for the simple reason that one good shootout can leave you broke.

I'd also be curious to see how long it took all the gun-happy folks to take each other out. Don't get me wrong, I love guns myself. I just don't look forward to having to depend on one for my own personal, daily, safety. Been there, it's not fun. Can't understand those who look on the prospect with delight.

 

[Paulrus_Keaton]

Minutes to live.

 

[ghostrider409895]

I think trade and bartering will take over for a while, just until order can be established.

Really money is a representation of the stuff you do have. So rather than carry around a lot of stuff, you have money to represent that. With the apocalypse, money will be wiped out, because people might not really recognize its use. What good would money do you if you do not have stores or if people who want it? Today, money works because we have places where it is useful. We have places we can get things if we have money. Post apocalypse, you really can?t find money accepting places and that money won?t do you any good just sitting around.

I think in time, money might come back, but not until order is reestablished. Until then it will be all trade, because trade makes sense. You carry what you have, and if you need something else you trade with another person. It is a bit safer because you have something right now, rather than money that just gives you the potential to buy something.

Trading could give you food or clothing, while money gives you sheets of colored coins and fiber.

 

[jubosu]

I almost forgot
From the movie Waterworld Dirt
make sure you save up

 

[Daniel_Rosamilia]

CHOCOLATE!
Pretty simple:
"I will trade you 5 blocks of Cadbury for 2 sheep."
"HELL NO!"
*BANG*
Chocolate mysteriously goes missing, and so does the body.

 

[Acaroid]

Well the apocalypse has come and gone and the value of paper money has gone down from the most powerful force in the universe to toilet paper. Now society needs currency in some form, since no one wants to contemplate how many bananas a suit of power armor is worth or how many lollipops a nuke launcher costs. So, what would be ideal in this post apocalyptic wasteland?

Well this is interesting as currency is only about because of banks and the stock market. So when the apoc hits currency would be a thing of the past (I assume) so a value system would be down to your own personal ideas of value and skill to barter.

 

[Caligulove]

I like that idea that Metro 2033 has where only military grade ammunition is used as currency, also since its fairly odd to come by.

Something like that or who knows. Maybe bottle caps would be used after all. There certainly are no shortage of them. Looking around some house parties I go to... theres like $200 there, if they were money

 

[kahlzun]

Bottlecaps.

You know it's true.

Seriously though, an instituted currency is a hallmark of government. Since an apocalypse is, practically by definition, the breakdown of all established values, there would be no value past barter... until someone makes an arcology or something, and even then it would be rare metals like silver and gold (like it always has been)

 

[no3]

Only barter with some strange scaler including who's bigger, with bigger guns and tougher.

 

[Me55enger]

Personally, im rooting for the knuckle-bones of small children.

The way the human race likes to procreate means that it'll never run out.

 

[nick_knack]

Something simple and common, but not too useful. I hate to say that bottle caps make the most sense but they do.

They absolutely do not. I had such a long argument about this with my friend.

Suffice to say, imaginary value cannot be sustained without a standard backing of some kind.

The only economic system that can exist in anarchy is barter.

 

[The Heik]

Well the apocalypse has come and gone and the value of paper money has gone down from the most powerful force in the universe to toilet paper. Now society needs currency in some form, since no one wants to contemplate how many bananas a suit of power armor is worth or how many lollipops a nuke launcher costs. So, what would be ideal in this post apocalyptic wasteland?

Probably sex. No matter how poor you are, unless you've lost every limb and most of your internal organs you'll always have SOME way to ensure payment.

 

[paddyfro]

turnips, not only portable but edibile