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.

[ArneFufkin]

Of course, and, as always, what people perceive to be valuable will remain so, without exception.

Tell that to the guy with 10,000 pet rocks and 25,000 mood rings in a warehouse somewhere.

What people perceive to be valuable today will remain valuable if the perception has an underlying utility. Things that are peceived as valuable today based only on allure or popular appeal will rarely remain so over time.

[Dec31,1999]

This "fiat money" crowd is the survivalist movement. They may or may not have a point. Click Here.

[SamAdams76]

Gold bugs love to show how the dollar has decreased in value over the years. But they conveniently overlook the fact that people have far more dollars than they did back then. Yeah, $20 might have bought you a new suit in 1920. But the average worker only made about $15 a week so he couldn't afford it anyway. Today, the average suit costs $250, well within the affordability range of the average worker who makes some $600 a week now.

[ArneFufkin]

Gold is a commodity of the masses. If I can buy it as a commodity, it lacks the rarity that would ensure it's ongoing value. Gold is $314 and ounce because a lot of people you don't know, you'll never meet and who have no care about your interests have DECIDED that it's $314 ounce.

I'm curious ... if you grabbed 10 ounces of gold from your inventory tommorrow with the objective of liquidating it to cash ... could you easily sell it and what price per ounce would you expect to get? $312? $200? $68?

[SauronOfMordor]

Gold mining companies might be a good investment at some times. Guns might be a better investment for the only scenarios were gold looks good to me.

In any scenario where dollars are no longer accepted, we will go to barter rather than back to gold, for the simple reason that not too many people HAVE gold coins any more

The currencies of post-greenback America will be cartons of cigarettes, bottles of booze, and ammo (in some circles, add drugs) -- non-perishable items of widespread use.

[#3Fan]

Nope, I've got the bread and that little yellow coin is not acceptable to me.

Then I'll go to a guy that will give me 300 loaves for that ounce, like the bank down the street.

See, my bread has an intrinsic value. If I want rice, I can trade my loaves of bread for rice. If I desire wood for warmth, I can trade my bread for my friend's wood. I can trade some of that wood for another neighbor's coat. I can trade some of my excess rice for a butchered chicken. Essential products have value. Paper currency has value, because it is divisible, measurable and easily exchangable. Gold is shiny and yellow.

And worth $300+. And in an emergency, it would be exchangabe for necessities, because people that owned just paper, whether stock or fiat currency would have nothing to carry as money, just big heavy stuff to barter. The only stuff they would be left with is the stuff on their property and all of that stuff depreciates. Gold does not depreciate on average and would suddenly be worth a lot more in a world without the U.S. dollar.

If you are on the brink of starvation, my loaf of bread is worth 10,000 ounces of your yellow metal.

Then I go to the farmer down the road who has a bin full of wheat and is willing to charge a reasonable price for it. What do you do in this situation? You eat your loaf of bread during the day, burn your now worthless fiat money for heat during the night, go to that farmer the next day to beg for wheat instead of buy the wheat like I did, or barter away the much-depreciated shirt off your back for it.

[Stentor]

I am now willing to consider that gold might be a good investment and that stocks may not recover after all.

No need to go off the deep end. Give technical analysis a chance.(;>)

[ArneFufkin]

What is the typical return on a Beanie Babie?

[#3Fan]

Electronic Terminals? Sun visors? Please explain

Gold doesn't corrode and so makes an excellent electronic terminal for high-end computers. Astronauts use gold in their face shields to keep out deadly cosmic rays. Two of the many amazing uses for gold.

[#3Fan]

Yeah, but you'll be dead.

Maybe so. But with gold, my odds are much higher that I could survive.

[ArneFufkin]

What is gold really worth if you wanted to sell 10 ounces tomorrow?

[ArneFufkin]

Those were certainly amazing everyday uses.

[#3Fan]

This "fiat money" crowd is the survivalist movement. They may or may not have a point.

So am I one of them? I'd consider myself more of a preparedist. :^)

[#3Fan]

But they conveniently overlook the fact that people have far more dollars than they did back then

Due to the yearly ~4% ripoff known as inflation. Someone's making trillions a year off that perfect scam.

[#3Fan]

Gold is a commodity of the masses. If I can buy it as a commodity, it lacks the rarity that would ensure it's ongoing value. Gold is $314 and ounce because a lot of people you don't know, you'll never meet and who have no care about your interests have DECIDED that it's $314 ounce.

I believe differently. I believe that gold is worth a lot per volume because men love to have sex with women and always will.

I'm curious ... if you grabbed 10 ounces of gold from your inventory tommorrow with the objective of liquidating it to cash ... could you easily sell it and what price per ounce would you expect to get? $312? $200? $68?

I have no idea, I have no intention of selling it. I intend to use it when the need arises. I suppose a gold shop would give me around $3000 for it.

[Washington-Husky]

Gold retains its characteristic because governments cannot screw with it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the U.S. Government outlaw the private ownership of gold for about 40 years, from 1933 to 1972? (That's not including the so-called rare or collectible gold coins, of course.)

My problem with this gold/fiat currency debate is exactly that: the government can (and will) screw with both entities to their own advantage. Buyer beware....

[#3Fan]

In any scenario where dollars are no longer accepted, we will go to barter rather than back to gold, for the simple reason that not too many people HAVE gold coins any more

Have fun carrying your couch around. LOL People will accept gold for goods.

[#3Fan]

What is gold really worth if you wanted to sell 10 ounces tomorrow?

$3140, I guess. You tell me.

[#3Fan]

Those were certainly amazing everyday uses.

I use my computer every day. I look at art every day. We are bombarded by the sun's rays every day. Women wear jewelry from their boyfriends and husbands every day.