A little lesson as to why gold is valuable.

abeverage
I am now curious if you buy or sell Gold...


I often come across these and wonder out loud but everyone needs a hobby right?

I seems to be for the poster above.

I don't really know who you are asking but I will state, no.

As a blue collar worker with children I cannot afford gold.

As stated the only little bit we have are my better halfs rings that I bought her a long time ago.

I have bought silver and sold it as the time needing money comes and goes.

My next purchase will be silver again.

I can't afford a whole paycheck for a hunk of gold the size of a nickel or quarter..lol

I am now curious if you buy or sell Gold...

reply to post by abeverage


If that question was for me....I buy gold....physical gold. I do not sell it for any reason. I also have a substantial amount of money invested in silver...physical silver....which I also don't sell....not yet at any rate.

When fiat currencies have run their natural course and collapse, as they all do...with NO EXCEPTIONS...this will assure that I have protected at least some of the wealth I have spent my life working for.

If gold isn't feasible....buy silver...PHYSICAL silver and stash it away...when the end of the US dollar comes, and it will...it's value will go through the roof.

reply to post by deadcalm


I don't think it would make sense to resurrect the discussion of my thread, for the sake of the OP. But when food, water and clothing would be more valuable, why would gold be necessary? I think that gold is definitely necessary in a failing economy, but I would say that Mad Max scenarios throw that kind of thinking out the W I N D O W.

I definitely think that it's useful in any scenario that doesn't involve a decimation of the population, however. I would acknowledge that there's a slim chance of that happening.

And here I thought the OP was going to say that gold was made in the later stages of a supernova, making it quite rare compared to many other elements.

reply to post by Rodinus


The fact that gold has value in this economy should tell you about the pretentious nature of gold. I mean, our economy has its foundations on something that came to prominence as jewelry.

reply to post by liejunkie01


Meh. IN THE LONG RUN... It's only valuable use is biological. KMMFTZ

but I would say that Mad Max scenarios throw that kind of thinking out the W I N D O W.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio


During the dark ages...after the collapse of the Roman Empire...gold was still valuable and used for trade, and I cannot think of a more "MadMax" scenario than that.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. History has proven time and again over the last 10,000 years....that gold is money. It will always have value.

reply to post by liejunkie01


I actually find it rather sad that we as a species place so much stock and waste so much time and effort attempting to obtain what amounts to essentially shiny metal!

I mean i can see the reason for its technological uses, i just cant understand why for 1000s of years(maybe even 100,000s of years) before we even discovered its electrical and conductive properties we felt and still do feel the need to accumulate the stuff and place value in it.

Its shiny yellow metal that has scientific and technological applications, no more, no less!

Its almost like we are designed to desire the substance, is there some kind of Anunnaki connection there?

It has no practical ability to nourish us, clothe us, or shelter us. Therefore, it is not truly important. Now, if you are a 75 year old woman with a boy haircut trying to impress her friends at the buffet on your trip down to florida, then I could see it meaning the world to you.

reply to post by andy06shake


You could even say that we have forever been slaves to Gold, or should I say the importance placed on Gold. Therefore, Gold to humans overall is slavery and bondage. Gold has helped to supress humans as a whole. You can see it, I can see it, but people like the author of the thread cannot !

reply to post by DarksideOz

Gold has helped to supress humans as a whole. You can see it, I can see it, but people like the author of the thread cannot !

The author of the thread presented the many uses of gold, and why it is a valuable metal.

Helped to supress humans? I disagree. It has helped us throughout the centuries.

There will always be wealthy people friend, higher "tier" individuals that will value something, if not gold then what? Something will take it's place.

Should we all live in exact mud huts shrouded in loin cloths bitching about the weather, having nothing because we don't value anything? Humans need purpose, to some it is wealth, to others it is not.

As stated we need copper, it serves it purpose. Gold also serves it's purpose, it has properties that make it a useful metal and because of the rarity, it is expensive.

Personally religion has supressed humans more than any other thing on this earth, mixed with gold to make idols by ancients, because of one of it's properties(being easily formed) it became a thing of worship.

Even if you take away the "worshiping aspects, it is still a desired metal to work with and has it's specific properties to fill a specific need(such as copper, aluminum, silver, nickel, etc.) I can see that, many can see that, but people like you are unsble to see that.

reply to post by liejunkie01


Gold has not helped "us", it has helped "them". Gold has enslaved you so much that you still can't see that you're a slave to it, even to the point of defending it.


If you take away the worth you place on gold, then what is gold worth ?

Good discussion. Personally, I don't really know why gold is valuable. It is indeed curious why civilizations throughout history have amassed gold instead of... maybe wheat? seeds? fishing supplies? Could it be because it is not perishable nor degradable? Maybe due to its scarcity? That is cannot be reproduced? Perhaps because stupid nations and people all over the world (except most smart'ass' individuals) assign and have faith in its value? Is it a mere coincidence that the US, the largest economy in the world holds the (purportedly) largest amount of gold?

I think I will never understand, and I can also provide the most logical arguments on either side of the fence. Still, it boils down to NOT what I think has value, but what the REST of world think. As they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure". So if anyone can afford to keep a little non-perishable gold trash just to be on the safe side (among other essentials, of course), maybe someday when SHTF someone else you meet may see it as treasure? Who knows? But never take the chances to think that we know for sure what will/will not happen.

Incidentally, has anyone seen Schindler's List? They swallowed their gold so the Nazi's couldn't take it away from them (it would have passed through the digestive system unharmed). That way they could trade it for their freedom or food when the need arose. Now, can anyone (care to) imagine if they had swallowed only bread instead? Hmmm...

When SHTF the most important commodity will be skill. The skill to build shelter, get food, defend oneself. In terms of currency, gold will be more valuable than paper. Paper is only a symbolic I-O-U with no real value.

But as the OP said, we mostly already know that and this thread is for those that don't.

Just a few thoughts, sorry if I'm repeating anyone here...

Gold has historically had great value in stable (and some unstable) societies. I'd say because it could dependably be traded for other goods and was easier to transport than thousands of pounds of wheat, livestock, water ... whatever. Someone up the chain with vast resources always wanted gold. Whether for statues, jewelry or electronics gold was and is rare, useful and sought after.

In an ultra low-tech society where everyone struggles day to day just to eat, gold is as valuable as dirt. Maybe less if that dirt is good for planting.

In a SHTF scenario gold would probably hold some value - at least until people found out how dire their situation is. Until then why not carry/have some if you can? If some doofus is willing to trade food for gold it be nice to have some.


Related question: Are all "rare" items valuable? Besides precious metals and gems what other rare items are valuable and why? Many rare things seem to fill uses that nothing else does, or at least does as well.

Is just being rare reason enough? I suspect so...I guess that's just logical to a human brain! Hell- thinking about it, making something seem rare is enough to drive up its value.

reply to post by Skyfloating

When SHTF the most important commodity will be skill. The skill to build shelter, get food, defend oneself. In terms of currency, gold will be more valuable than paper. Paper is only a symbolic I-O-U with no real value.

your right about that, skills will be need in a end of the world type shtf scenario,gold can't feed you, or keep warm, or it is not good for defending yourself with. but if it's a moderate situation, where governments are still functioning. skills will become important but gold will come into play more. where people won't trust paper and would rather have gold.

i can think of one thing paper will be valuable for in a end type scenario. and i dare say in a shtf scenario after a month or two of irritation people with be willing to kill for it.
at least in most 1st world countries, unless they learn the three sea shells method. but then they would become valuable and it would be dangerious to go to the beach.
i find it kinda funny how a lot of people don't think about that.

that would be a good item to stock up on, could use it for bartering when the time comes.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


I'm laughing that you connect a SHTF scenario and sh*ting

But I'd point out that some societies have never used toilet paper and gotten along. Just explore this site for the gross details Where do I put the paper?

I'd say in a survival situation salt will be one resource worth it's weight in gold...so to speak!

reply to post by RedParrotHead


so i take you didn't see where i said most first world countries. i guess i should have put the unclean left hand countries.
in most of those countries, the majority of the people are at or below the poverty level. if that's doing fine i wonder what your idea of well off is.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


Well, would there even be any "first world countries" at that point? All kidding aside, I do see your point but am pretty sure that "wiping" conundrums will be a minor problem to overcome.

a reply to: liejunkie01
Thank you for clarifying and pointing out all of these wonderful uses for gold. That said, you have apparently left-out why it is rare on Earth and in our galaxy and so can be considered very valuable literally all over the place. I'll paste below some paragraphs from an article I finished about a month ago on gold.:

Gold is rare in the galaxy but it is relatively abundant on Earth, so it should be no wonder that we are very popular with alien species. I think it is foolish for ufology to discount this as it is possibly foundational in understanding why tens of thousands of ufo's have been witnessed in large numbers in modern times and infrequently in our ancient past. The hard metal may be the motivation for many of our credible ufo sightings, and offer an explanation for why sightings occur more often in rural regions than over cities, because the process may require the craft to remain stationary for long periods of time (in minutes) and it is safer to hover over sparsely populated areas, and because scanning deep below the earth is not restricted by human structure if mining in rural areas, or under the ocean. Hundreds and thousands of miles deep in the Earth, consistent with known physics of the elements and of early planet formation, there should be boulders of gold the size of small mountains. Because in our molten stage, which lasted about five hundred million years, larger and denser objects of matter sink to the center of the new molten planet while lighter collections of the same matter are left at our surface and in the many miles below the surface. That would be typical of known metals in many if not all proto-planets in a molten state. Which is why small and relatively light stringy veins of heavy metal is all of the precious metals that we find near the surface, where humans have greedily picked on their hands and knees for centuries.

Gold is scattered throughout the universe sparsely in select solar systems which were lucky enough to have been born from a star which created the metal (and silver and titanium as far as we know), by a process which occurs at the center of a dying star which is within seconds of becoming a super nova, and in our case specifically a type 1-A hyper-nova (a binary (2) star system event that in it's death gave birth to this solar system). We and all we are exist because of the unique fusion formula within a certain sized star, of a certain density which is rare in the galaxy. Because most stars do not super nova at their death (our star Sol is not expected to super nova), only some infrequently discovered systems will contain gold. That's us, we are the lucky gold recipients in our distant corner of the Milky Way. It is estimated that a super-nova occurs once or twice in one hundred years in our small to medium sized galaxy. Our astronomers have only photographed the after-math, years after, of visible gasses from one super nova in our lifetime thus far (super nova 1987A). Conceivably a space traveling race of peoples may know about gold and may not. Because that space traveling species could "fly-by" thousands and thousands of star systems and not one of them will contain gold! But it only takes one discovery, one time, to begin a rumor among interstellar travelers and create an alien gold-rush. And greed is a whole new factor which can motivate humans to do immoral and desperate things, and may motivate other species like-wise.

In our future the precious and dense shiny metal may be the cause of the end of us all. To a malevolent advanced species we would be as flies dodging in front of their faces and interfering with operations annoyingly. They would just wipe us out. They would explode the planet and proceed to beam the gold they want out of the debris of our planet and our insignificant primitive lives will probably be terminated very quickly, without suffering. I suspect the often envisioned science fiction creation called molecular transport is used currently by the many inexplicable and unidentifiable craft that so many decent people have witnessed. Molecular transport is not only quick but because of it's atom by atom ability, the gold will be pure when it materializes in the cargo hold, very efficient. "Beaming-up" a cargo hold full of gold is probably no more effort than a human going to the convenience store. Don't snicker, molecular transport is almost here: photos, atomic force microscope, atoms into structures.

From: JamesGMason.com In the Midst of a Swarm of UFO's in an Interstellar Gold Rush