Metal cutting bits would work just fine -if there was some way of being sure nobody would ever be able to - in effect - counterfiet them by developing a way to lower thier production costs.

Apparently ( I may be wrong ) the supply of gold has never increased fast enough to significantly lower it's price over the middle or long term.

But I agree with the concept of storing wealth in the form of concrete, physically durable, useful forms.

But if you are going to take this approach you must be reasonably sure your chosen medium will not be substituted or replaced by a better material or product.

In the short term I am storing some wealth in the form of diesel fuel and fertilizer, which are not really well suited to long term storage but seem likely to appreciate fast over the next year or two.So I guess I'm one those petroluem speculators that are responsible for eighty dollar oil!

Items that seem likely to hold thier value well and store or last indefinitely as well as being useful in the meantime ( earning the equivalent of interest income )include any tools or machinery or household furnishings made to last indefinitely.

Some that we have are heavy stainless steel cookware, a cast iron hand pump, nylon rope, scythes with heavy duty blades, wood stoves made out of heavy steel plate at least one quarter inch thick,
a hand operated grinder for sharpening tools,etc.

Some items, such as the rope and grinder , do wear out in a few years if used comercially, but for homestead use they are essentially lifetime investments.

I also have stored a comsiderable amount of angle iron , pipe, channels , and I beams which are useless until put into service but which will doubtless appreciate sharply in value in coming years-steel is one of the most energy intensive of products.

If I had money to invest I might buy into a mining company with good prospects for the metals such as chromium , molybedium, etc. used in maling specialty steels.

In his book: Beyond Oil, Kenneth S. Deffeyes thinks that once the global economy is shrinking severily, gold will be
almost worthless. Very few people will be interested in buying jewelry or any luxury items.

For a better future we have to manufacture very durable tools and products.

One of my grandmothers had a refrigerator [Brand = Frigidaire] that lasted more than 40 years, it worked fine!!
I have an electric shaver [Braun] made in Germany that has worked fine for more than 12 years.

Nowadays there are juice extractors and other appliances which are almost rubbish (made in China).

In a growing economy, it makes sense that gold and jewelry can hold or increase their value, whereas in a contracting
economy it doesn't make sense.

Willem Buiter has a good article on gold in the Financial Times - Gold - A six thousand year old bubble.You can link to this through the current issue of The Automatic Earth.

"I would rather have metal cutting bits as the base for coinage then useless gold."

No, that is a bad idea. Metal can be used for other purposes and it is quite common. Also easy to counterfeit.
Gold has unique advantages:
- very hard to counterfeit
- it is pretty much USELESS for anything else than money
- it is rare

It is not a coincidence that gold has been (and still is) money for thousands of years.

Only for Wall Street Werewolves.