Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,

One of the most successful con jobs in the history of the world has been the concept of unbacked paper currency… or fiat money.

Over the last 100-years or so, governments have been able to convince people that their pieces of paper, backed by nothing but promises, actually have ‘value’. This seems truly bizarre when you think about it. Governments tend to be untrusted, serial failures. Yet people readily accept their guarantees the world over.

The history of fiat money has proven to be an almost uninterrupted period of inflation, asset bubbles, booms, busts, bailouts, panics,and other crises… and thankfully, it is an experiment which seems to be quickly nearing its end.

As such, it’s high time for creative, thinking people to consider their options and start trading their pieces of paper for something of value.

We all know the familiar story about precious metals– gold and silver have a long-standing tradition as stores of value dating back thousands of years.