how important is gold....really?

[Aluvus]

Is its only major value its pretty color and maleability into decorations/jewelry? Conducive uses seem of a minimal importance in driving costs.

Gold is a great conductor and does not tarnish, which makes it useful in electronics.

Is human lust for fashion so strong that it is really a solid foundation to fall back on for fiscal securiy?

Depends on what you want to be secure against. As a hedge against inflation in your national currency? Can be. Against global financial Armageddon? The guys in the Mad Max movies weren't looking for gold...

Gold is an amazing metal with tons of useful properties. The heat shielding properties of it make it almost, if not outright, essential for NASA and other space projects I assume.

what

 

[mizzou]

I bet you $10 fort knox is full of levis

 

[davmat787]

what

Google "gold heat properties" and/or "gold use space". This article sums up some aspects of what I was getting at.

The significance of gold in space travel cannot be denied. It is used in a number of ways in all space crafts and it would not be wrong to say that without the use of gold, man could not have visited the moon. When building a spacecraft, it is important to note that once it has been launched in space, there is minimum possibility of repair or lubrication. Thus, highly dependable materials have to be used in their manufacturing such as gold.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2989771

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Significance-of-Gold-to-Space-Travel&id=2989771

 

[Bignate603]

Gold is an amazing metal with tons of useful properties. The heat shielding properties of it make it almost, if not outright, essential for NASA and other space projects I assume.

Industrial uses are a drop in the bucket compared to gold bought for investment or jewelry. Almost every industrial application uses gold plating where a little gold goes an extremely long way.

 

[soccerballtux]

Is its only major value its pretty color and maleability into decorations/jewelry? Conducive uses seem of a minimal importance in driving costs.

Is human lust for fashion so strong that it is really a solid foundation to fall back on for fiscal securiy?

Shoes and blue jeans seem to be much more sought after and praised for not just their aesthetic value, but their durability and necessary uses. If the world was coming to and end and financial markets totally collapsed, would you rather have a huge stockpile of jeans or shoes to barter with or tons of gold bars?

Ill hang up and listen to your answer

aesthetic value is due to historical path dependency. Earliest recorded history started and grew out of the middle east. Deeper skin tones, tans, browns (think Indians), etc. Have you seen a gold ring on an Indian man? It shines like there's no tomorrow in a way that a white man can only dream of. The middle easterners were first (mesopotamian region) at culture and amassing it as wealth because it is what looked best on them.
Silver a close second, looks much better on white people than gold does, but is more plentiful, and tarnishes. Less valuable. Platinum the substitute of choice for rings for white people IMO, but I feel like most platinum bands are heavily brushed not shined...doesn't look as good on fairer skin.

Same with blacks. The lucious weighty color of gold looks very good on a black man, whereas silver and diamonds just don't have quite the same shine for him that they do on white people.

 

[soccerballtux]

I dont' know if it's the hue, saturation, or whatever property of gold, but dark skin tones have it and fair skin tones don't, that's why gold washes out fair skin tones and darker skin tones wash out the look of silver.

 

[soccerballtux]

gold complements persian skin tones, the greeks learned it from them, and the romans learned it from them.

this x 1000

 

[BladeVenom]

Investment and jewelry, because people believe it's valuable. Only a small percentage of the world's gold is used in important industries. Other metals are rarer, but aren't as expensive like palladium and iridium. Despite it's rarity, iridium wasn't really that expensive until it started being used in modern electronics.

 

[Bignate603]

Google "gold heat properties" and/or "gold use space". This article sums up some aspects of what I was getting at.



http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Significance-of-Gold-to-Space-Travel&id=2989771

That's not exactly a scholarly article. The guy that wrote it is a goldsmith and sells gold bars.

I have very little doubt that we would have reached the moon without gold, given what we had to overcome to get there I'm sure we would have taken that in stride too. Since it was available we used it, if it hadn't been we'd have figured out something else.

 

[davmat787]

That's not exactly a scholarly article. The guy that wrote it is a goldsmith and sells gold bars.

I have very little doubt that we would have reached the moon without gold, given what we had to overcome to get there I'm sure we would have taken that in stride too. Since it was available we used it, if it hadn't been we'd have figured out something else.

Whatever, it was just one of the first summaries of many. Anyway, what would you use that can be applied so thin that provides equal or better heat protection?

I'm not sure what we are disagreeing on really. All I am getting at is that gold has other uses than tacky jewelry due to its properties.

 

[bfdd]

Well in terms of like our NEED for it? Not much, kind of over inflated. Though in terms of how cool it is, by premise of its creation and it's relation to us. Yeah it's pretty fucking cool stuff.

 

[Bignate603]

Whatever, it was just one of the first summaries of many. Anyway, what would you use that can be applied so thin that provides equal or better heat protection?

Don't know off the top of my head, but I can guarantee that if gold didn't exist they'd figure out some other way to do it. It might get a little heavier or less efficient but it could still be done.

I'm not sure what we are disagreeing on really. All I am getting at is that gold has other uses than tacky jewelry due to its properties.

I agree it has other uses but those account for a minuscule fraction of the amount that we use. If the price of gold was set by the amount we use for industrial applications the price would be a fraction of what it is and would remain relatively stable over time.

 

[LegendKiller]

There are some applications where gold is valuable but the actual worth of gold is far less than the current price.

 

[Anarchist420]

Gold is actually the only good thing to invest in. T-Bonde are the dumbest thing you could invest in because you'll never get paid back the principle and it's hard to sell them when you want to. The worst form of T-Bonds are TIPS. It's sad how the government and hedge fund managers prey on people like my parents. You'd think a doctor would be smarter than to fall for it, but I guess not. They think they have 50% more on hand than they actually do because the quarterly report tries to make it look like they have on hand what's tied up. My dad probably won't be able to have his T-bonds sold when he retires without losing at least 1/4 of what he thinks he has. But that's what he deserves for encouraging theft from future generations.

Plus, if you invest in the stock market or t-bonds, you have to give some of your gains to the credit manager.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Even when the rest of us are in deep poverty, there will always be a few people who manage to be wealthy. Those people will want to spend their wealth on rare and beautiful things to show it off. Gold is a rare and beautiful thing. It's actually an impractical but dependable part of human nature that drives the value of gold. People with money will always spend a portion of it on shiny, pretty, rare things, therefor gold will always hold some value.

 

[JJ650]

It always has been and always will be wanted. It's used in electronics, medicine and jewelry.
It doesn't react or oxidize to most things (will dissolve in cyanide solutions tho!). Highly workable and a great conductor of electricity. It's also very, very reflective to IR radiation, which is useful in space programs and in most modern aviation applications.
Of course we all know that many people want it for the bling. It doesn't tarnish so it stays shiney, unlike silver and platinum.
The value of gold really hasn't fluctuated. It's the buying power of the presently controlling currency that has lost it's ability to buy a troy oz. of gold.

 

[LegendKiller]

Gold is actually the only good thing to invest in. T-Bonde are the dumbest thing you could invest in because you'll never get paid back the principle and it's hard to sell them when you want to. The worst form of T-Bonds are TIPS. It's sad how the government and hedge fund managers prey on people like my parents. You'd think a doctor would be smarter than to fall for it, but I guess not. They think they have 50% more on hand than they actually do because the quarterly report tries to make it look like they have on hand what's tied up. My dad probably won't be able to have his T-bonds sold when he retires without losing at least 1/4 of what he thinks he has. But that's what he deserves for encouraging theft from future generations.

Plus, if you invest in the stock market or t-bonds, you have to give some of your gains to the credit manager.

There's nothing wrong with TIPS, nor t-bonds in general. Gold has been a shitty investment for a very long time. It throws off no cash and cannot grow. It has little intrinsic value.

So what if you give some to the manager? You are paying them for the world, just like people pay him to be a doctor.

What, exactly, have you added to the world that you can criticize your own father, who likely put you through that shitty school of yours.

 

[LegendKiller]

It always has been and always will be wanted. It's used in electronics, medicine and jewelry.
It doesn't react or oxidize to most things (will dissolve in cyanide solutions tho!). Highly workable and a great conductor of electricity. It's also very, very reflective to IR radiation, which is useful in space programs and in most modern aviation applications.
Of course we all know that many people want it for the bling. It doesn't tarnish so it stays shiney, unlike silver and platinum.
The value of gold really hasn't fluctuated. It's the buying power of the presently controlling currency that has lost it's ability to buy a troy oz. of gold.

The current price has little to do with the currency. It has far more to do with the tens of billions of investments flowing into derivatives of gold, pushing up the paper price.

 

[Bignate603]

Gold is actually the only good thing to invest in. T-Bonde are the dumbest thing you could invest in because you'll never get paid back the principle and it's hard to sell them when you want to. The worst form of T-Bonds are TIPS. It's sad how the government and hedge fund managers prey on people like my parents. You'd think a doctor would be smarter than to fall for it, but I guess not. They think they have 50% more on hand than they actually do because the quarterly report tries to make it look like they have on hand what's tied up. My dad probably won't be able to have his T-bonds sold when he retires without losing at least 1/4 of what he thinks he has. But that's what he deserves for encouraging theft from future generations.

Plus, if you invest in the stock market or t-bonds, you have to give some of your gains to the credit manager.

Gold is a terrible investment as the basis of your portfolio, it's actual intrinsic value is very low so the vast majority of its price right now is completely based on people's opinion, and right now that is mostly driven by people's fear of other investors. Because it has very low underlying value it can be extremely volatile when there is a big shift in the market.

As for the recent rise in gold prices, sure they've gone up quite a bit. However, they're still nowhere near their record high after you adjust for inflation. Right now gold is selling a little above $1600 per ounce. Back in the '80's it hit $2,287 per ounce (after you adjust for inflation). That bubble eventually burst and this one will sooner or later too.

 

[Anarchist420]

There's nothing wrong with TIPS, nor t-bonds in general. Gold has been a shitty investment for a very long time. It throws off no cash and cannot grow. It has little intrinsic value.

So what if you give some to the manager? You are paying them for the world, just like people pay him to be a doctor.

What, exactly, have you added to the world that you can criticize your own father, who likely put you through that shitty school of yours.

Probably not enough, but I hope you went to an Ivy League school

Can we agree that real estate is a decent investment? Of course, an eye has to be kept on it, but not as much as on stocks. CD's are okay and it's probably good to have those as maybe 20% of the portfolio, although gold should be the vast majority.

I don't see how anyone could see T-bonds as a good investment when if you loaned the government $300k 10 years ago, and paid you back everything today, you'd only effectively get $200k back (maybe $250k after interest, but that interest would have to be spent or reinvested as soon as you got it). However, the government hasn't paid its creditors in more than 50 years.

More than that, T-bonds are unethical, IMO, because not everyone consents to national taxes and deficit spending.

 

[LegendKiller]

Probably not enough, but I hope you went to an Ivy League school

Can we agree that real estate is a decent investment? Of course, an eye has to be kept on it, but not as much as on stocks. CD's are okay and it's probably good to have those as maybe 20% of the portfolio, although gold should be the vast majority.

I don't see how anyone could see T-bonds as a good investment when if you loaned the government $300k 10 years ago, and paid you back everything today, you'd only effectively get $200k back (maybe $250k after interest, but that interest would have to be spent or reinvested as soon as you got it). However, the government hasn't paid its creditors in more than 50 years.

More than that, T-bonds are unethical, IMO, because not everyone consents to national taxes and deficit spending.

I didn't go to an Ivy, nor would I want to. The cost/benefit past the first job isn't there. However, I did go to a better school than you did and all you are is some twerp who sucks off his parents and/or steals from his roommates.

Gold shouldn't be anywhere near the "vast majority" of a portfolio. Your link shows 10 year profits behind gold, great, stocks have had some terrible times but that doesn't mean that gold beats them longer term. Look at 30, 40, 50 year returns, far different story.

How would you have only got 200-250 back? There's nothing wrong with rolling debt.

Not everybody consents to having idiots like you trying to ruin our country and return us to the 18th century, but that doesn't mean we should kick you out.