Is Gold An Inflation Hedge Or Something More? [View article]
"b) usefulness"
Usefulness is a slippery concept. Gold does makes an extremely useful (albeit expensive) door stop, or paper weight.
Nails, screws, washers, plastic shopping bags are all very useful and yet they're priced at virtually nothing. Does this make them extremely under priced? No, because of the concept of supply and demand.
AAPL stock certificates are not at all useful (if I understand your intended use of the word), but that hasn't stopped their price rising dramatically, and people who bought them making money.
Gold is very useful to me as a way to protect against the folly of politicians, and to protect my capital against currency devaluation, diversifying my investment portfolio.
Enough other people feel the same so that the Gold price has continued in a strong uptrend - alone that fact in itself makes Gold extremely useful.
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
“I am completely puzzled by your agreement: " In reality, that debt is money which hasn't been earned yet" and your insistence that any calculation of today's money must include tomorrow's money. Money circulates.”
You seem confused. Whether you label it as debt or "tomorrows money" does not change the fact that *it has been spent*. You have just written “Money circulates”, well guess what - it’s circulating. We know this because it has been spent and is therefore in the economy right now. Academic arguments do not change fundamental reality.
Exposure To Gold For A Fraction Of The Cost [View article]
Was interested by your comment that CEF is currently selling at a discount.
I looked it up on their website but unless I'm missing something it looks like it is not discounted, but rather sells with a 2.3% / 2.5% premium (Canadian / US respectively) : http://bit.ly/qMpBRB
Still, IMO, now is a good time to buy some, as this is a relatively low premium for CEF and by most accounts gold and silver could be about to see a significant upleg.
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
"But I do not see an issue with the exclusion of treasury debt from the calculation of world monetary base."
That's fine if you believe (as some do) that the debt never needs to be repaid, but can grow indefinitely, has no consequences, and will have no effect on todays monetary policy.
I believe that is patently absurd. In reality, that debt is money which hasn't been earned yet, and we are mortgaging the future of tax payers who haven't even been born. It's no different, in principle, from a household which puts purchases on the credit card. Only the scale and the credit rating is different.
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
“>>> How is a bond issued by an entity that has outflows 50% higher than it's income safe?
> I don't know all of the details but it would seem that the expectation is very high that the US will pay back the debt. …. it seems that people expect it will be possible to balance it.”
So your thesis is based on faith that the group think of the crowd is correct?! At this point let me say I appreciate your honesty and bravery in coming clean on this point. But IMO I really think you have just scraped the bottom of the barrel as far as supporting your argument is concerned.
“And it seems that the US has a very high credit rating.“ So did Iceland as late as April 2008. Not to mention this… http://bit.ly/SeQd35
Stocks And The Presidency: What To Expect When You're Electing [View article]
^ politics of envy. In the end it will be bad for everyone including the poor you think you are helping. There isn't enough tax to be had from your 1% of rich people to go anywhere near fixing the finances. It's like the green people who think windmills will solve the worlds energy needs - pure fantasy.
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
"I would take your argument more seriously if you could explain how the dollar will appreciate relative to gold in the long run."
This is a very revealing thought experiment if followed to a conclusion. It would need people who hold paper dollars to burn them at a rate faster than bernanke is creating them. How likely is that?
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
“All money is "fake" [including gold]. Value is inherent in things and labor.”
You put gold in the wrong category. It goes along with “things and labor” because its value is real (inherent if you prefer), while paper currency is just a device contrived by governments who confer its value by fiat, rather than it being inherent in the squares of coloured paper themselves. The value of gold is not declared by government fiat, but is discovered by the market. The difference seems quite obvious I think.
“Gold is one such system. We could use bushels of corn as currency. But they would be heavy and unwieldy.”
Which is exactly why we don’t use corn, along with the fact that it rots, and it’s supply is not fixed. All reasons why gold is still fit for the purpose.
“All money does is denominate that value for carrying it across time and space.” And that’s exactly why paper currencies are proving to be rubbish. They do not carry value but rather devalue “across time”.
“Gold is no longer a useful method of denominating value.”
Governments and central banks the world over don’t appear to agree with you. They are loading up as fast as they can afford to.
Peter Schiff: Gold Can Only Go Higher [View article]
Peter Schiff understands economics. The reason he has so many detractors is that, unlike them, he doesn’t care if he has the approval of academics, theorists, central bankers, or fashionable socialism.
He ought to be knighted for his independent thinking, and for providing an accessible economics education to the masses, as an alternative to the group think mind wash of the mainstream media.
Is Gold An Inflation Hedge Or Something More? [View article]
So do those who only remember it selectively.
Is Gold An Inflation Hedge Or Something More? [View article]
Is Gold An Inflation Hedge Or Something More? [View article]
Usefulness is a slippery concept. Gold does makes an extremely useful (albeit expensive) door stop, or paper weight.
Nails, screws, washers, plastic shopping bags are all very useful and yet they're priced at virtually nothing. Does this make them extremely under priced? No, because of the concept of supply and demand.
AAPL stock certificates are not at all useful (if I understand your intended use of the word), but that hasn't stopped their price rising dramatically, and people who bought them making money.
Gold is very useful to me as a way to protect against the folly of politicians, and to protect my capital against currency devaluation, diversifying my investment portfolio.
Enough other people feel the same so that the Gold price has continued in a strong uptrend - alone that fact in itself makes Gold extremely useful.
Why Gold Should See Another Bull Run In The Next 6 Months [View article]
I guess that makes central bankers are very emotional.
Why Gold Should See Another Bull Run In The Next 6 Months [View article]
Why Gold Should See Another Bull Run In The Next 6 Months [View article]
Er... what planet did you say you lived on?
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
You seem confused. Whether you label it as debt or "tomorrows money" does not change the fact that *it has been spent*. You have just written “Money circulates”, well guess what - it’s circulating. We know this because it has been spent and is therefore in the economy right now. Academic arguments do not change fundamental reality.
Exposure To Gold For A Fraction Of The Cost [View article]
I looked it up on their website but unless I'm missing something it looks like it is not discounted, but rather sells with a 2.3% / 2.5% premium (Canadian / US respectively) :
http://bit.ly/qMpBRB
Still, IMO, now is a good time to buy some, as this is a relatively low premium for CEF and by most accounts gold and silver could be about to see a significant upleg.
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
That's fine if you believe (as some do) that the debt never needs to be repaid, but can grow indefinitely, has no consequences, and will have no effect on todays monetary policy.
I believe that is patently absurd. In reality, that debt is money which hasn't been earned yet, and we are mortgaging the future of tax payers who haven't even been born. It's no different, in principle, from a household which puts purchases on the credit card. Only the scale and the credit rating is different.
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
> I don't know all of the details but it would seem that the expectation is very high that the US will pay back the debt. …. it seems that people expect it will be possible to balance it.”
So your thesis is based on faith that the group think of the crowd is correct?! At this point let me say I appreciate your honesty and bravery in coming clean on this point. But IMO I really think you have just scraped the bottom of the barrel as far as supporting your argument is concerned.
“And it seems that the US has a very high credit rating.“
So did Iceland as late as April 2008.
Not to mention this…
http://bit.ly/SeQd35
Stocks And The Presidency: What To Expect When You're Electing [View article]
The Significance Of The Row In Germany About Inspecting Their Gold Reserves Held Abroad [View article]
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
This is a very revealing thought experiment if followed to a conclusion. It would need people who hold paper dollars to burn them at a rate faster than bernanke is creating them. How likely is that?
An Argument For Gold 'Value' Of $1100 [View article]
You put gold in the wrong category. It goes along with “things and labor” because its value is real (inherent if you prefer), while paper currency is just a device contrived by governments who confer its value by fiat, rather than it being inherent in the squares of coloured paper themselves. The value of gold is not declared by government fiat, but is discovered by the market. The difference seems quite obvious I think.
“Gold is one such system. We could use bushels of corn as currency. But they would be heavy and unwieldy.”
Which is exactly why we don’t use corn, along with the fact that it rots, and it’s supply is not fixed. All reasons why gold is still fit for the purpose.
“All money does is denominate that value for carrying it across time and space.”
And that’s exactly why paper currencies are proving to be rubbish. They do not carry value but rather devalue “across time”.
“Gold is no longer a useful method of denominating value.”
Governments and central banks the world over don’t appear to agree with you. They are loading up as fast as they can afford to.
Peter Schiff: Gold Can Only Go Higher [View article]
He ought to be knighted for his independent thinking, and for providing an accessible economics education to the masses, as an alternative to the group think mind wash of the mainstream media.