Stupid things that bullion companies say

True. Even asbestos has "value", as evidenced by the fact that there are still asbestos mines in operation.

It's the relative density of wealth to volume or weight that makes precious metals preferable to other commodities.

 

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And as others have noted, how is gold different in this regard from any of the myriad substances used through history as money. Like what, you say? Like each and every commodity on display at the ANA Kid's Zone that has been used as money, and countless others not shown there. Gold has NO superior claim to be money that any other commodity. The only difference is that western peoples deluded themselves about money for millennia. We're over it now. At least the sentient among us are.

 

Indeed. But value is not a property that is unique to money. Nor is "wealth". So the simple fact that we no longer use gold as currency, or that there were cultures that never used it as such, does not mean that gold wasn't valuable to someone, somewhere, at virtually every point in history.

Gold "as money" and gold being worth money are two different concepts. I'm not a really a fan of gold as money, because it's simply impractical given the size of our economy. Also, I don't really think it's the government's responsibility (AKA yours and mine) to back its (AKA our) currency with tangible goods (that you and I would have to produce). That's no longer necessary for money to serve its purpose.

 

I find that most people who do support currency being backed by physical precious metals don't fully understand where the things that our government owns comes from. If we were to do so, our government would need to procure at least $1.2 trillion worth of precious metals, just to cover the physical currency in circulation. That doesn't include digital money held in accounts. Guess how such a procurement would be funded?

If things ever got bad enough that we couldn't simply "buy" gold using our dollars and instead had to redeem our dollars through the government in exchange for those precious metals, does anyone really think those precious metals would still be on hand?

 

True, no one would argue it has no value its just when people who are selling it are trying to act like it is the only real money that you know they think you are a sucker.

Exactly, not to mention if it ever actually got that bad no one will be selling food and water for metal they can't do anything with.