Dreamer
Regular Member
The purchasing power of gold NEVER changes.
The price of gold fluctuates, depending on the purchasing power of a given currency.
One ounce of gold has ALWAYS purchased the same amount of goods or services. ALWAYS.
In ancient Egypt, we have records that show one ounce of gold would buy a REALLY nice outfit for a priest or pharaoh.
In Elizabethan England, for one Gold Sovereign (a coin of about 1oz), you could engage a reputable tailor to produce a VERY spiffy set of slops and a doublet of fine material.
Today in NYC, you can walk into any reputable mens clothier and buy a pretty nice suit for the same amount of "dollars" as it takes to buy once ounce of gold...
Dollars go up and down in purchasing power. Ours has been going down for the last 100 years. A "dollar" today is worth less than 2% what is was when we went off the Gold Standard in 1933.
But the purchasing power (value) of gold NEVER changes. Period. End of discussion...
It will only change when they figure out how to make gold as easily as they can make paper money, and men have been chasing that ghost for millennia...
Silver is a different thing altogether. Silver is primarily used as an industrial metal these days (in technology). It's use as a store of wealth is relatively minor, compared to gold. Therefore, it is subject to market fluctuations of supply and demand as well as the purchasing power of currency for it's "price".
Also, silver has never been a reliable measure of, or store of, wealth because it is subject to oxidation (and therefore it can be "destroyed" by corrosion, tarnishing, or just poor storage), whereas gold does not oxidize...
All that said, I can neither confirm or deny that I have either Silver or Gold bullion in my personal possession as a hedge against inflation, or as a backup tender in the tragic occurence that the US$ should become worthless...
But I DO have a LOT of lead... :monkey
The price of gold fluctuates, depending on the purchasing power of a given currency.
One ounce of gold has ALWAYS purchased the same amount of goods or services. ALWAYS.
In ancient Egypt, we have records that show one ounce of gold would buy a REALLY nice outfit for a priest or pharaoh.
In Elizabethan England, for one Gold Sovereign (a coin of about 1oz), you could engage a reputable tailor to produce a VERY spiffy set of slops and a doublet of fine material.
Today in NYC, you can walk into any reputable mens clothier and buy a pretty nice suit for the same amount of "dollars" as it takes to buy once ounce of gold...
Dollars go up and down in purchasing power. Ours has been going down for the last 100 years. A "dollar" today is worth less than 2% what is was when we went off the Gold Standard in 1933.
But the purchasing power (value) of gold NEVER changes. Period. End of discussion...
It will only change when they figure out how to make gold as easily as they can make paper money, and men have been chasing that ghost for millennia...
Silver is a different thing altogether. Silver is primarily used as an industrial metal these days (in technology). It's use as a store of wealth is relatively minor, compared to gold. Therefore, it is subject to market fluctuations of supply and demand as well as the purchasing power of currency for it's "price".
Also, silver has never been a reliable measure of, or store of, wealth because it is subject to oxidation (and therefore it can be "destroyed" by corrosion, tarnishing, or just poor storage), whereas gold does not oxidize...
All that said, I can neither confirm or deny that I have either Silver or Gold bullion in my personal possession as a hedge against inflation, or as a backup tender in the tragic occurence that the US$ should become worthless...
But I DO have a LOT of lead... :monkey
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