Gold

A four-panel cartoon. A knight in armor speaks with a green dragon guarding a pile of gold. Panel 1: the knight asks, "Dragon, what are you hoarding all this gold for?" Panel 2: the dragon replies, "Waiting for my moment. One day I will dump all this gold onto the world market, crashing the price of gold, laying waste to fortunes throughout the land!" Panel 3: the knight calmly explains, "We've been off the gold standard for decades. In fact, gold is considered a hedge against instability. If the price crashes, people will perceive the world as safer." Panel 4 (the knight in shadow): "You would, however, annoy the shit out of preppers." The dragon concedes, "Ugh, fine." Votey: a close-up of the dragon wailing in melodramatic anguish, "The nominal value of gold and related commodities has fallen 7% in mid-day trading! Despair! Despair!" The joke: the dragon's grand economic terror plan is defused by modern monetary reality, leaving only preppers to spite.