Quote from dumb_mother:
gold = sun worship
silver = moon worship
if you want to ask why gold has been money for millenia you have to go back to our real roots.
right now people are just starting to recognize gold as a currency again, silver doesn't get nearly the respect. what do you think silver will be worth when we start describing it as money again? my guess is a sub 5:1 silver:gold ratio will hit in the next 20 years at some point, so if you are truly a long term gold bull, do yourself a favor and get some silver instead until the ratio drops like a rock.
Quote from Businessman:
Gold is very pretty and will always have value as bling, especially among Indian farmers and their wives.
Gold is in an uptrend, it has only reached these levels and is still being brought at these price levels because of the greater fool theory. There could still be plenty more upside until the fools run out.
The chances of the world adopting gold as a currency, for whatever reason, in our lifetime is very small.
Quote from sle:
Do you think if you would have buried an ounce of gold 50 years ago, it would buy you more or less real estate in Manhattan today?![]()
Again (and I am sure someone wrote this before me) gold is a commodity. As commodities go, it might be perceived as a way to store wealth but overall it has very little intrinsic value. Also, don't forget that gold is not being consumed, but rather overall gold in "circulation" increases 2% a year due to mining.
I am not saying gold is a bad investment, I am just saying that one should have other investments in their portfolio.
=============Quote from Lights:
For the umpeenth time, Gold isn't a currency. Gold COINS have been currency in the past. but Gold as a commodity is not money as paper pulp isn't and so isn't copper and zinc which they strike into pennies and quarters!
Gold is a commodity and a store of wealth to carry over across death and war. If food didn't spoil, it'd be a store of wealth as well. Any commodity is as long as it doesn't spoil
Quote from sle:
PS. and you are wrong about the manhattan real estate, it appreciated way more then gold, even accounting for the recent decline.
Quote from peilthetraveler:
Prove it. What was the price of Manhattan real estate in 1961 then? And remember...you are saying "way more" not even "slightly more" So an apartment better have cost less than $5k in 1961 for your assumption to be correct.
Median home price is $840k as of early this year. Might be less now but $840k is a good start.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/04/real_estate/Manhattan_market_prices/index.htm
Quote from tortoise:
I'm reasonably certain that the assertion is false, based on a price appreciation of specific, known properties in other high-appreciation areas over the past 50 years (e.g., Los Angeles, metropolitan Boston). But I don't have readily available analogous pricing data for NYC. Does anyone know where historical aggregate numbers are available?