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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
Including the Euro and the modern Dollar, by the way.
Either the stuff you pay me with is backed by something real... not just belief... or GTFO.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
Sorry to break your dreams, but most of the currencies used now are backed by belief.
bysideslash ( 1865434 ) writes:
When you get right down to it, even gold is valuable (to some degree) by convention. It's shiny, scarce, and you can make pretty stuff with it. Whoop-de-doo.
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bydanbert8 ( 1024253 ) writes:
It's valuable because you can't make more of it. You can find more, but it's a long, expensive process, and it get longer and more expensive the more you find. Kind of like Bitcoins actually...
byV for Vendetta ( 1204898 ) writes:
It's valuable because you can't make more of it.
Stars 'make gold' all the time. Where do you think our gold stems from?
bydanbert8 ( 1024253 ) writes:
Are you a star? I didn't say it wasn't possible to make more of it, but that we currently can't. If modern alchemy becomes possible, gold will be worthless as a currency.
byhedwards ( 940851 ) writes:
Gold is already worthless as a currency. It's prone to speculation and the additional supply you have coming onto the market at any given time is minimal.
What's more, the industrial applications for it is somewhat limited and most of the value presently comes from people hoarding it. In other words, gold has very little real value to it, and when times change and it goes out of fashion again, it will be right back where it was prior to the recent run up.
Then there's the issue of the assaying you need to do
byElectricity Likes Me ( 1098643 ) writes:
Except when someone opens a new mine. Then the value crashes promptly as theres a sudden change in the volume of gold out there. This can still happen on Earth. It'll be disasterous when people start mining it out from space (where the tonnage is far higher then all the production on Earth).
bygeekoid ( 135745 ) writes:
Gold is worthless for a stable currency. There is a reason we don't use it anymore.
And we can turn lead into gold now, it's just currently more expensive then mining gold.
byTheRaven64 ( 641858 ) writes:
That doesn't make it valuable. There are lots of things more scarce than gold that are less valuable. Someone has to actually want it for it to have value. In the case of gold, there is demand from jewellery makers for it, but also from electronics because it is good for electrical contacts (conductive, doesn't corrode).
byrossdee ( 243626 ) writes:
Platinum is more valuable - its rarer (on this planet) and has many more uses, especially as a catalyst. (and you can still make jewelery out of it.
bymcvos ( 645701 ) writes:
Its intrinsic scarcity makes it suitable for legal tender, but it doesn't give it intrinsic value. It's still only as valuable as people believe it to be.
byDuckDodgers ( 541817 ) writes:
It's only valuable if people want it, though. If chalk became the next great thing in jewelry, and gold was declared tacky and hideous, you'd be left with a worthless pile of yellow rocks.
byBigby ( 659157 ) writes:
It would never be worthless, just like chalk would never be worthless. Gold has non-jewelry uses. Gold has the advantage of being more scarce than chalk too. Similarly, diamonds and platinum also have real-world uses and are more scarce than chalk. Same with copper. Only the fiat currencies have no real-world use...unless it is paper money: you can burn it for heat as people in Germany discovered.
byDuckDodgers ( 541817 ) writes:
It would never be totally useless, no. But it would be worth less than it is today. Gold's biggest value lies in the fact that people think gold has value, which is fundamentally the same model propping up the value of the US dollar and the Euro. When people stop believing in the value of any of the three, that value drops. You can use gold in some electronics, and of course it's more useful in that regard than dollars are useful for creating heat or wallpapering a house. But if nobody wanted gold jew
bygeekoid ( 135745 ) writes:
It's valuable becasue people desire it.
note how a punctuated that sentences.
If it was just used for it's industrial uses, the price of gold would plummet.
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bymcvos ( 645701 ) writes:
Gold is just a shiny metal. Currencies are backed by economies, by work, labour, products, wealth. I think the latter has more intrinsic value than the former.
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bysideslash ( 1865434 ) writes:
Which would you rather own when your economy is experiencing hyperinflation? At that point your fallacy becomes obvious: gold _is_ something, whereas fiat currencies are merely temporarily _backed by_ something. I agree with you in dissing gold as a mere "shiny metal"; however as long as most of the world disagrees, both of us would be wise to respect gold's highly superior intrinsic value.
bymaxwell demon ( 590494 ) writes:
Which would you rather own when your economy is experiencing hyperinflation?
And which of them would you rather own when the gold price is in free fall?
bymcvos ( 645701 ) writes:
Which would you rather own when your economy is experiencing hyperinflation? At that point your fallacy becomes obvious: gold _is_ something, whereas fiat currencies are merely temporarily _backed by_ something. I agree with you in dissing gold as a mere "shiny metal"; however as long as most of the world disagrees, both of us would be wise to respect gold's highly superior intrinsic value.
That value is not intrinsic, because as you say, it's only because most of the most believes it has value, that it does have that value. When people stop believing that, it stops having value.
When society collapses completely, which would you rather own: gold, or a piece of land? Land has intrinsic value. Gold doesn't.
byElectricity Likes Me ( 1098643 ) writes:
Gonna be hard to take anything without bullets. And as a result, sulfur, charcoal, salt-peter. Nitric acid maybe if you want to make nitrocellulose. And some land for trees for that, plus a mine for zinc and copper to make the casings...
byAnonymous Coward writes:
Which would you rather own when your economy is experiencing hyperinflation? At that point your fallacy becomes obvious: gold _is_ something, whereas fiat currencies are merely temporarily _backed by_ something. I agree with you in dissing gold as a mere "shiny metal"; however as long as most of the world disagrees, both of us would be wise to respect gold's highly superior intrinsic value.
That value is not intrinsic, because as you say, it's only because most of the most believes it has value, that it does have that value. When people stop believing that, it stops having value.
When society collapses completely, which would you rather own: gold, or a piece of land? Land has intrinsic value. Gold doesn't.
If society collapses completely land has no value, as you can't carry it. Owning land is only possible because society recognizes your right for the specific piece of land. After collapse you own what you can hold and keep others from taking, with any means.
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bygeekoid ( 135745 ) writes:
"Which would you rather own when your economy is experiencing hyperinflation? "
a good regulatory body is what In would rather have.
regardless of the currency base.
Of course currency based o gold is high subjective to other forces. It also limits growth. It's called the "Gilded cage" for a reason.
byultranova ( 717540 ) writes:
Which would you rather own when your economy is experiencing hyperinflation?
Whatever the black market deals in. Which, in all likelihood, will be external currencies.
bykenaaker ( 774785 ) writes:
If I have food, water, a warm place to sleep, toilet paper, whiskey, and a means of defense and you have your stack of gold and nothing else who has actual wealth? Gold is worth less than toilet paper in most circumstances. Currency is just a way to make bartering easier and less confusing.
bykenaaker ( 774785 ) writes:
Fine, eat your gold, burn it to keep warm, use it to wipe your bottom. 'Cause I'm not willing to trade anything I have for your heavy, shiny, junk.
byElectricity Likes Me ( 1098643 ) writes:
And in a desert gold a liter of water is worth more then all the gold you have after 3 days.
In fact if I have a big functioning economy, and all you have is a gold mine, then your gold is actually worthless. And you'll be really screwed if my people's culture say, viewed shiny things as senseless opulence.
It's a commodity.
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bykaatochacha ( 651922 ) writes:
Hey, I remember that twilight zone too! Where is my bubble car?!
bymaestroX ( 1061960 ) writes:
In fact if I have a big functioning economy, and all you have is a gold mine, then your gold is actually worthless.
Not really, with all the gold, I'd have all the babes. You can have your big economy.
byCro Magnon ( 467622 ) writes:
Every so often, I hear about someone predicting the collapse of civilization, and recommending buying gold. I always think to myself, if civilization DOES collapse, I'd rather have lead than gold.
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