Where are the gold bugs NOW?

Gold Prices Online ^ | 06/27/2002 | Lazamataz

[Lazamataz]

Well, 'the new spoosman' and many like him have told me for months that the 'fiat' currency is worthless, and gold is the only valuable currency out there. Disregarding for a second the fact that these gold bugs are so ready to part with their gold for those 'worthless fiat notes', I would like to point out that since the height of their caterwalling, Jun 01 2002, gold is down from 326$ an ounce to 314$ an ounce today. That is a 4 percent drop in less than a month.

The 'fiat currency' people are out to lunch. I don't expect gold to do any better than index with inflation in the long run, and today managed to show a savage loss of $5 an ounce.

[TomServo]

Where are the gold bugs NOW?

They're crawlin' all over me...get 'em off me...they're itchin' me...get 'em off, get 'em off meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

[Senator Pardek]

Silver and gold, silver and gold
Ev'ryone wishes for silver and gold
How do you measure it's worth?
Just by the pleasure it gives here on earth.

Silver and gold, silver and gold
Mean so much more when I see
Silver and gold decorations
On ev'ry Christmas tree.

[RipSawyer]

"Where can you get a really nice suit for $314?" You might be surprised what you can buy if you are buying the product for its quality and not just buying the name on a label. Some people can live about as well on $500.00 a week as some others can on $1500.00 a week. Some can live even better. The pricing of most things we buy are only very loosely related to the cost of production, in other words you very seldom get more than you pay for but a lot of people go through life getting a lot less than they pay for. In fact some people insist on paying for more than they get. I have known a few who would not be caught dead with anything that was not priced at least twice its true value.

[Lazamataz]

They're crawlin' all over me...get 'em off me...they're itchin' me...get 'em off, get 'em off meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Here.

Toke on this. You'll calm down.

[arthurus]

Governments and banks cannot actually manipulate the price of gold for more than a very short time. The practices needed to manipulate the gold price are, in fact, additions and subtractions to financial liquidity beyond what is called for by economic actors. "Manipulation" is inflation or deflation. It is the value of the unit of account, the money, that is being manipulated. Massives movements of gold between banks and governments is an attempt to hide inflation and fools no one in this age if real time information. When money is demanded for the smooth flow of commerce and is not put into the system, the price of gold declines as it is sold to acquire liqiuidity. If too much liquidity is pumped into the economy the excess is used to buy gold and the dollar price goes up. "Manipulation" is done to fool economic actors into thinking that money is more valuable than it is but it only succeeds in throwing sand in the economic gears as calculation loses predictibility.

[demlosers]

Being on a gold standard has its problems:

Leading into the Depression of 1893, a leading London investment bank collapsed in 1890, hard-pressed British investors sold millions of dollars worth of stock in American railroads and other corporations and converted their dollars to gold, draining U.S. gold reserves. By 1895, the gold reserve was barely a shadow of it's former self. With the gold reserves down to $41 million, Pres. Grover Cleveland turned to Wall Street. Bankers J.P. Morgan and August Belmont agreed to lend the government $62 million in exchange for U.S. bonds at a special discount. With this loan, the government replenished the U.S. gold reserve.

Cleveland saved the gold standard, but at a high price and Morgan and Belmont made a handsome profit on the deal.

A gold backed dollar has seen its day. It is a fallacy that the gold backed dollar provides stability and wealth and is just a false belief. It's just another investment whose price goes up and down and should be treated as such.

[Redcloak]

He bears a striking resemblance to the Grand Nagus.

[#3Fan]

I would like to point out that since the height of their caterwalling, Jun 01 2002, gold is down from 326$ an ounce to 314$ an ounce today. That is a 4 percent drop in less than a month.

And the dollar is down 12% against the Euro in two weeks. LOL. Gold owners are doing better than dollar owners.

[rohry]

"But unless you personally move out of your gold positions, in the long run the market will outperform you.

Always has. Not to say it always will."

Not so. Look at 1929-1949, 1966-1982. That is one-third of the 20th Century where the Dow went nowhere. I think that we are now in a long-term down-spiral in the major market indicies that will equal those years.

I also forgot to mention how much the dollar has gone down against the euro (snicker, snicker), the Yen (and they want their currency to go down!) and the Pound (on average 5%).

[Chewbacca]

I am a gold bug, and if I had any spare cash I would be stocking up on the stuff right now. What a buying opportunity.
Sadly I have to wait until July 5th to get paid, and most of the cash will be going to pay off a credit card bill for a vehical repair.

[Willie Green]

Not true. I say that I am not wearing them to begin with. There is a difference.

If the pants don't fit, they don't fit.

Stick with the skilled tailors.

BTW, last time I was in Korea, I had a custom suit made in Itaewon.
Was measured for it somewhere around 8 in the evening...
Delivered to my hotel room by 9 the next morning. Perfect fit!!!

[rohry]

Oh yes, I forgot to congratulate you on a post that will live for days and generate 100's of posts.

[Chewbacca]

You can get a really nice suit at The Men's Warehouse.

[#3Fan]

If gold is the suppose to be the un-fiat, natural, currency of choice by man, then why is its worth based in dollars and not the other way around; by measuring the dollar against a weight in gold, the supposed natural standard? . Answer: It's not anymore!

That doesn't mean anything. We could value the dollar or gold in loaves of bread, a number is just a number.

[#3Fan]

Plain and simpler: An ounce of gold during the Roman Empire would buy an nice suit and a pair of shoes.

Caeser always wore the best suits, you have to give him credit for that. :^)

Your point is correct though, such as in loaves of bread.

[rohry]

Hey, if you did some formating someone might actually read your post. Put a few paragraphs in will ya?

This is a friendly suggestion, no flames here...

[arthurus]

Gold is more than just an asset. You cannot eat it , you cant make lawn mowers out of it, etc., but it is the commodity that, because it has been used as The Money for 5000 years or so, will continue to be so used so long as there is such a thing as markets. Gold retains its characteristic because governments cannot screw with it. They can play games with the cvalue of the fiat money but they cvannot change gold. They can attempt to mask gold by clipping and dilution (in the days of circulating gold money) or by modern tricks of paper but dilution was always detected instantly and the value of the debased coin adjusted to reflect the debasement. Paper tricks have the same effect, debasement of fiat money.

Silver is not so reliable because the industrial uses are far greater than the monetary uses and because silver enters the system in more erratic amounts. The addition of gold has been quite steady over the millenia. Silver can also be "lost" in that it combines readily with other elements to form other substances.

[#3Fan]

Not a bad bet, in my estimation. At least in our lifetimes.

Read Revelation, Trumps 1 through 3. I don't know if our dollar can survive that.

[DeaconBenjamin]

How many gold bugs have you seen counsel investors to place all of their money in gold? The real issue is whether any investment should be in gold or other precious metals -- and on this question, it seems like you adopt the same position proffered by those same "gold bugs" whom you would attack.

[Chewbacca]

Revelations 3:17-18

"You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."