Whenever the topic of gold comes-up, the topic of complete societal breakdown (CSB) is not far behind. In that scenario, everyone imagines mean people taking others' food by force, so food and guns are valuable. But there's quite a range of things in between today's "stability" and CSB. It might just happen that there's hyper-inflation, for instance. I think that's more likely than CSB. So let's play-out that scenario for someone who has some gold.
Would the equity markets be seriously down (since uncertainty causes people to flee to "safe" investments)? In this scenario that I'm proposing, factories still produce, people still work, but prices are higher every day. I'll wager that selling your equities in this environment would generate quite a hefty loss. Right or wrong, gold is considered by many (most?) as an asset to use to weather the storm. In this scenario I'm proposing, the economies of the world would get on their feet again, at which time the fractional ownership of the companies of the world might have shifted (could be that a lot of companies must close their doors, leaving investors with nothing), but the total assets before and after the disruption will still exist, generally, and I suggest that the markets will get priced properly again, given time.
If one holds gold before this kind of disruption, they would uniquely have the opportunity to "sell high", and, oh by the way, keep-up with those ever-increasing grocery store prices. Those with gold might also be able to get some good companies at a fraction of their book value (if they have the guts to invest in equities before the rebound).
Is this scenario likely? No. But like I said, I think it's more likely than the complete collapse of order and the launching of the world into complete mayhem. Maybe my faith in humanity is misplaced? Anyway, no, you can't eat gold, but it doesn't mean it might not come in handy some day.
