Originally posted by dueceryep, and same thing with diamonds.
like paper money, gold is worth what people say it is. it has no real practical use except as a conductor in electronic parts or for medical purposes. I read somewhere if gold were not historically valuable and used in jewelry, then its value today would be less than iron ore, which is significantly more useful
spices were once worth more than gold, but now that seems silly. still, spices had more practical value even then.
Originally posted by howdoesthehorseymoveIt was still $35 an ounce in the early 70s, not the late 70s.
Time to take in the wifes jewelry and get a bigger tv.
Gold at 1000 an ounce is way over priced.
In the late 1970's it was 35 bucks an ounce!!
That price was set by the government in the 1940s.
Shortly after Nixon de-regulated the price of gold it shot up to about where it is today.
Absolutely, it would be worthless if it didnt have any use. But it has Numerous uses.
Of all the minerals mined from the Earth, none is more useful than gold. Its usefulness is derived from a diversity of special properties. Gold conducts electricity, does not tarnish, is very easy to work, can be drawn into wire, can be hammered into thin sheets, alloys with many other metals, can be melted and cast into highly detailed shapes, has a wonderful color and a brilliant luster. Gold is a memorable metal that occupies a special place in the human mind.
Here are the uses of Gold in order of demand. (Im fairly sure.)
1.Jewellry 2.Financial 3.Electronics 4. Computers 5.Dentistry 6. Medical 7.Aerospace 8.Glass 9.Leaf 10.Misc/Medals etc.
Gold is too expensive to use by chance. Instead it is used deliberately and only when less expensive substitutes can not be identified. As a result, once a use is found for gold it is rarely abandoned for another metal. This means that the number of uses for gold have been increasing over time.
Most of the ways that gold is used today have been developed only during the last two or three decades. This trend will likely continue. As our society requires more sophisticated and reliable materials our uses for gold will increase. This combination of growing demand, few substitutes and limited supply will cause the value and importance of gold to increase steadily over time. It is truly a metal of the future
AND Finally unlike paper money, the government can't just print more gold whenever it feels like it. 😛
Originally posted by duecerThe spaceships that brought humans to Earth were comprised mostly of diamond, gold, and trace elements of testesack (a metal humans have not yet discovered)
like paper money, gold is worth what people say it is. it has no real practical use except as a conductor in electronic parts or for medical purposes. I read somewhere if gold were not historically valuable and used in jewelry, then its value today would be less than iron ore, which is significantly more useful
Iron is almost useless in an advanced culture. Just more proof the humans are no where near as smart as they like to think they are.
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Originally posted by glenn64# 1: jewellery can be made out of silver, platinum,nickle or other metals
Absolutely, it would be worthless if it didnt have any use. But it has Numerous uses.
Of all the minerals mined from the Earth, none is more useful than gold. Its usefulness is derived from a diversity of special properties. Gold conducts electricity, does not tarnish, is very easy to work, can be drawn into wire, can be hammered into thin sheets, alloys wi ...[text shortened]... lly unlike paper money, the government can't just print more gold whenever it feels like it. 😛
#2: that is called "fiat" it is worth what people say it is worth.
the rest of the uses are only a small teensy fraction of the total gold in circulation.
Originally posted by duecerIndeed duecer.
# 1: jewellery can be made out of silver, platinum,nickle or other metals
#2: that is called "fiat" it is worth what people say it is worth.
the rest of the uses are only a small teensy fraction of the total gold in circulation.
Silver Platinum Nickel etc can and are used to make Jewelry, but none have the prpertys of Gold, Platinum has some similar qualitys yes but the expense of producing these metals are what makes them even more valuable. Notable: Platinum's main industry now isnt Jewelry btw, its in the automotive industry (Catalytic converters).
Fiat money is paper/coins declared by a government to be "Legaal Tender" ". Fiat money achieves value because a government accepts it in payment of taxes and says it can be used within the country as a "tender" not because its worth what the people say its worth so much but more what the "Market" says its worth. Since the removal of the "Gold Standard fiat has been walking a precarious line in my opinion due to the fact that the fiat is based on the economy of the nation/s that use it vs being backed by a standard. ie Gold... IMHO
Originally posted by glenn64I don't know much about the gold standard... but I do like kittens.
Indeed duecer.
Silver Platinum Nickel etc can and are used to make Jewelry, but none have the prpertys of Gold, Platinum has some similar qualitys yes but the expense of producing these metals are what makes them even more valuable. Notable: Platinum's main industry now isnt Jewelry btw, its in the automotive industry (Catalytic converters).
Fiat money i ...[text shortened]... the economy of the nation/s that use it vs being backed by a standard. ie Gold... IMHO
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