Good as GOLD. Some thoughts to ponder...

"With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people." - Fredrich August von Hayek

"The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit." - Ralph Waldow Emerson

"No wonder governments don't like gold. No wonder the central banks despise and fear gold. They fear gold because when gold rises, it's telling the world that their governments are debasing the currency." - Richard Russell

"Gold is to monetary policy what the North Star is to determining
location." - Steve Forbes

"Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world." - Alan Greenspan

 

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Good quotes.

I think it's easier to see the value of gold now that you have a decade to compare it's value to the USD. Clearly you can see gold is the better value.

Of course gold is the de facto monetary standard throughout time, but let's face it. Today's generation knows more about American Idol than the American Revolution.

It's hindsight now, but I'm sure it would be even harder to get Americans to stock up on gold back in 2000 when you can get an ounce for around $288. Now that gold is much higher, Americans don't have the cash to stock up. It's kind of a catch 22.....

 

Yep, exactly. Glad I bought most of my gold and silver in the mid 90's (when I first joined the Navy), when it was around 260-300 an ounce, and silver when it was 3 bucks an ounce! Now I don't feel so bad paying 1,200 for an ounce of gold, or $20 for an American Eagle. The way I see it, I still make out BIG TIME.

 

Wow!! Good for you! I'm jealous....where's the DeLorean when you need it most!

I cannot even comprehend $3 for silver. I paid $16.50 - $17.50 for mine. What a huge profit for you!!

 

Oh one other thing to keep in mind, kinda unrelated to gold, but wait till tax season is over.

States will find almost no revenue coming from the unemployed....I think most states will get sticker shock.....

You can look at that April 15th date as when maybe gold might start to really shoot up if the MSM reports horrible state tax revenue numbers...

 

The biggest problem with a gold standard is that there isn't enough gold existing above ground to make it feasible as an alternative standard.. All of the gold existing in the world would fill two olympic size swimming pools (50 meters long x 25 meters wide x 2 meters deep).

In spite of the gold bug's love of the stuff, the world has advanced in the last 5000 years and all of the technology, bioscience, and affordable produced goods that's come online since B.C. also have intrinsic value...and usefulness.

Currently, 5% of my retirement portfolio is in precious metals. If I believed in any number of doomsday scenarios (collapsing dollar, government confiscating gold and/or guns, eventual Chinese domination) I would allocate a greater percentage to PM's.

But since I don't think the future is going to be run by extremists, I'll stick with 5% unless events and human behavior tell me otherwise.

 

What I think is interesting about those quotes is who made them.....Steve Forbes and Alan Greenspan. You'd think those two would be the last people to praise gold.

 

I agree up to a point about the Gold Standard. But that's one of the attractions of gold as well-- it is relatively scarce, not to mention that it cannot be made out of thin air (like paper/electronic money) and is basically indestructible.

However, your second point-- about "all of the technology, bioscience, and affordable produced goods that's come online since B.C." having "intrinsic value... and usefulness"-- Do you really believe that? If so, I would like to sell you my reel-to-reel tape collection (both tapes), my Beta video tape player (slightly defective), my Pong game set, my non-working 45rpm record player from the 1950s, my Ronco buttoneer, my Mister Miser Valve, and my Mister Microphone. I figure their intrinsic value is far greater than 10 ounces of .999 gold. So, 10 ounces of a metal whose existence has outlasted its usefulness in exchange for all my intrinsically valuable, erstwhile state-of-the-art but nonetheless useful (with one exception) affordable goods sounds like a fair trade to me

 

Wow. That's a great reply. Now I know I'm getting old! I actually remember most of those gadgets and trinkets you mentioned! LOL!!

 

Right. It is strange, huh? That's why I put them up there. It goes to show you what some people say, and what they actually believe!

 

A couple of points need to be added. First, there isn't enough gold AT CURRENT PRICES. If the price was much higher, there would be enough gold. Second, under the old gold standard, silver [and copper and nickel] was the principal form of circulating currency. Gold was held primarily by governments and banks as reserves. I asked my grandfather whether he turned in any gold coins when Roosevelt confiscated them. He told me he never owned any gold in his life, yet he worked and lived during the time of the gold standard. It isn't what most people think because they imagine all of this gold circulating around when this was not the case.

 

teehehe ;-)

I bought some AGE's last month when the price dropped and didn't mind at all. But then I started buying gold at $335 and silver in the $4's.

Earlier on I wasn't in the income bracket to afford much gold, but after liquidating my silver stash in the late 70's to help pay for college with my GI Bill, I started buying again when it dropped under $5. Been buying ever since and will continue to buy so long as our fearless leaders keep up their monetary and fiscal policies tricks.

peace,

rono

 

Neither (gold or silver) is worth nothing at my local grocery store!

Neither (gold or silver) is worth nothing at my local grocery store!
Everything is relative and subjective. Yes I could take pre 1964 silver coinage down there and spend it for face but I think I will pass, and yes some astute manager after being called over to my checkout lane after some dialog may offer to buy my gold or silver at some very low price so I then could use regular U.S. paper money but,
What counts is what counts in the real world. I always seem to get the feeling that the biggest proponants of gold and silver values and up swings or the ones hinging on it's every move to see how much (or how little) they have gained. I'm not sure where all this talk of gold and silver ever ends except when it's way down then no one wants it and know one talks about it.
So you got this hunk of gold or silver and it's worth whatever but is has not made you one cent in X number of years until you sell it or trade it. It's not worth anything until you pass it over the counter to someone. You must despose of it to be worth anything and then when you take the loss of value (your moneys spending power) over time, your taxes, your selling fees, time and trouble you still end up with X amount of U.S. paper money to spend at the same store for the same goods, congratulations!!!
If any of you think the sky is really going to fall and we will be shaving off pieces of gold or silver to pay for goods then do I ever have very bad news for you, very bad indeed!

 

You're correct about that. Gold and silver should be viewed as investment assets and/or pure collectibles. Purchasing them as part of an end-of-the-world survival plan isn't a smart idea.

 

Gee, by your logic then, NOTHING in the world is "worth" anything, right? I mean a car is not worth anything unless you need it to drive somewhere. A sandwich isn't worth anything unless you are hungry. I glass of water isn't worth anything unless you are thirsty. A telephone isn't worth anything unless you need to make a phone call. I think you have gone off your rocker a little bit....well, not a little bit, a lot!

 

Wrong - I think I clearly stated that my grocery store accepts

Yes & no - I think I clearly stated that my grocery store accepts and welcomes my U.S. Paper money each and every time but now that you bring it up, "worth and need or purpose are very closely related and hard to seperate"! Worth is use and/or stored value in something. This is a good subject and I'm glad you are challeging me on it - I love it!
Technically your right - none of those things are "worth anything unless you need them" or can somehow use them to your advantage. Clearly an object sitting there with no use or need for me or you has no value at all
- it's value is when applied. It's in the application or transferece to have any value.
Perceived value or wished for value and $1 will get you the same (small) cup of coffee at McDonalds.
To be perfectly frank about all this there is no more value in a chunk of gold or silver or a piece of wood - it's all relative until traded or needed or used. Just read the story of the S.S. Central America. There was a day when gold was worth nothing, they scattered it about like trash because they knew it would kill them even quicker than they were going to die - it (GOLD) at that moment became weight worth nothing.
To put down paper of Fiat Money and in favor of gold and silver has advantages and disadvantages like all things in life the answer is both yes & no, true and not true, good and some bad, value and little value and risk and no risk - none as far as I can see has any inherent value over the other until you get into real wealth like a country's stored amount - even then aren't all the eggs in one basket for one lucky over throw attempt and then would it not be favorble to have had a little deversity spread around instead of sitting in one place???
Thanks,

 

After reading all that typing you did, frankly, I'm not too sure if you made any type of sense or point whatsoever. I do know however that for centuries upon centuries countries would attack other countries for their gold, and people would kill other people for gold. (I've never heard of any country attacking another one for wood) I got a good laugh when you said "there was a day when gold was worth nothing, and scattered around like trash". Really? When was this? (Refer to countries attacking other countries) Gold has always had value. Why? Because you can't make it, you can't print it, and you can't copy it. The only "value" paper money has is what the government says it has. Well, what happens when that government or country collapses? (Post WWII Germany, for example). An ounce of gold is an ounce of gold is an ounce of gold, get it? The bottom line is this: Gold is real money, as God intended it to be. Now I'm not going to get biblical here or anything, but truth be told, gold (and silver) is mentioned many times in the bible as currency. Gee, that's strange...

 

If this came about, why more to precious metals. If possession of gold/guns were to truly become illegal ( probably punishment of death if so crucial) who would take these as a means of exchange? In WWII era, both were legal in the US, but control of commodities were so stringent, that ration cards and ration stamps ( paper) were worth more than their weight in gold I suspect. Also if the gold is in an IRA, or pool account, those would be frozen immediately. Theoretically modern search devices can detect dense metals within normal density building materials, so house searches would be very effective and could be done from the outside. Stash ammo, hi energy pellet guns and lethal pellets, crossbow weapons, edged weapons,tobacco or other smokes in vacuum sealed bags. Expensive alcohol ( rotate your stock), spices, longterm medical supplies, Iodine/Potassium iodide ( in case of nuclear , this would be worth its weight in gold, etc. Only a small percentage of " Worse future scenario" people have their precious metal hidden in a cave on their remote personal property, most seem to have it in IRAs, pools, home or business, SDB at local bank ( that will disappear fast). If you do believe in gold hoarding for a bad future, be smart, as I am sure all of you have considered the above.

Jim
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I always thought that one of the best doomsday holdings would be bars of soap. They probably could be used pretty easily for barter, are divisible, have a long shelf life, probably won't be illegal to own, and aren't likely to be stolen. If doomsday doesn't happen, you can use it. In the meantime, the price keeps rising so it's essentially earning the equivalent of tax exempt interest. It's probably better than gold if the worst happens.

 

Good point. Over the summer I spent a lot of money buying things ahead of time. For example, toothbrush.

You're suppose to change your toothbrush every 3-4 months right? So that's roughly 3-4 new toothbrushes you'll need per year. So I figured since toothbrushes don't decay, why not buy a boatload of them?

So I did!! I bought 5 years worth of toothbrushes. No matter what they want to charge for toothbrushes in the next 5 years, I won't ever need to buy any.