[RogueIsland]

If you can create anything of value (gold, jewels, etc...) using a replicator

Nerd alert 2: replicators cannot reproduce "gold-pressed latinum", hence its value as a currency medium in Deep Space 9.

[steve-b]

Nerd alert 2: replicators cannot reproduce "gold-pressed latinum", hence its value as a currency medium in Deep Space 9.

IMO, that was a sort of "patch job" on the Trek universe to explain why its society wasn't utterly alien as a result of practically unlimited material wealth created by replicators.