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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.

Gold is more than just an asset. You cannot eat it , you cant make lawn mowers out of it ...
Silver is not so reliable because the industrial uses are far greater

Yes - gold is more than just an asset - and has a MULTITUDE of uses including a *starring* role in Electronics!

Gold possesses a unique combination of properties that have resulted in its use in a wide range of industrial applications.
These applications in total account for a current consumption of approximately 450 tonnes of gold per annum. The particular properties of gold which make it suitable for use in electronic and electrical applications include its good electrical conductivity, its ability to be cost effectively fabricated into the desired form (high ductility) and excellent corrosion resistance (meaning it does not form tarnish layers even when operating at high temperatures.). Gold's high thermal conductivity ensures rapid dissipation of heat when used for electrical contacts. A number of gold products are manufactured for use in the electronic industry:

Plating salts
Wrought gold
Evaporation wire for semi conductors
Sputtering targets
Bonding wires
Solders and brazing alloys
Thick film pastes

And this is just the Electronics Industry's use ...

MORE at: www.gold.org/value/sci_indu/indust_app/electronic_apps.html

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....