Why is Gold Valuable?

[MellowCream]

useful in non-credit, asset, or note based trading. 

 

It has some uses in electronics, it's kind of pretty.

 

otherwise it's mostly a given value, sure it's worth a lot but there are far more useful things to stockpile or hold to liquidate in the future instead of gold.

 

USD is completely independent, gold standard was dropped ages ago.

We need to go back to the gold standard. #ENDTHEFED

[_ASSASSIN_]

really?... anyways it's because it's a limited resource and is a precious metal.

[_ASSASSIN_]

We need to go back to the gold standard. #ENDTHEFED

lol what a joke.

[MellowCream]

lol what a joke.

No, it's not joke.

[helping]

We need to go back to the gold standard. #ENDTHEFED

Why not just go back to full barter and salt?

 

It would be nice to just pay for my Thai and Russian lolis with goats and vanilla instead of having to launder and smuggle.

 

lol what a joke.

This is a serious conversation, son.

What makes the paper valuable?

It has pretty much no intrinsic value beyond toilet paper, it's only an agreed upon value. Hence under anarchy or if America falls or what have you, it's pretty much tinder.

[Hoppa]

People like shiny stuff, and there's only a limited amount of it in the world.

And you can't really make it. (you can with a hadron supercollider, but that would take infinite amount of years to create a worthy amount) 

[_ASSASSIN_]

No, it's not joke.

you realize how little of control the US government would have if they couldn't inflate/deflate currency? It's a pretty important part of keeping an economy stable.

[mr moose]

I think you guys are confusing the immediate usable worth (you can't eat it so it's useless as a food) with the intrinsic value it has in a complex economic market that is dependent on rare metals for growth and sustainability.

 

The value of gold is not an artificial concept but the result of supply/demand which changes depending on many factors in the global economy.  Many people buy into gold when the economy takes a slide, this is because the cost of digging and processing it rarely goes down and the demand is mostly constant on a slight incline which in effect makes it a defacto currency standard. 

[MellowCream]

you realize how little of control the US government would have if they couldn't inflate/deflate currency? It's a pretty important part of keeping an economy stable.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH (Sorry)

 

Are you joking, the Fed is privately owned. The government needs no control, let the markets adjust!

[TechTheWorld]

Because its shiny.

[mr moose]

http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml

[_ASSASSIN_]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH (Sorry)

 

Are you joking, the Fed is privately owned. The government needs no control, let the markets adjust!

...have fun with that...

[Recon-UK]

Nothing that is materialistic is truly valuable, it is all false value.

[Art Vandelay]

Aluminum. It forms its own protective coating

The fact that it forms a coating demonstrates that it is reasonably reactive, unlike gold.

[Yummychickenblue]

Rarity.

 

 

Sorry had too.

[JustTooDank]

Its hard to obtain and you cant make it

Also, the usd's value is based on how much gold we have (i think)

It used to be. It isn't based on shit but speculation now. That's why it's crashing.

Gold is valuable because it's a finite resource that has a ton of different uses. From electronics, to medical supplies, to actual medications, to jewelry, to dentistry, to NASA equipment, it reflects solar radiation, etc. It is a malleable, conductive, non-tarnishing metal. Very useful.

Gold has been a currency since humans have known about gold. When the current system crashes, society will more than likely revert back to old ways.

The US Dollar used to be a "receipt" for gold. This was because it's obviously a lot of work to carry a bunch of gold coins around. You'd take your gold to a bank, and they'd give you Reserve Notes, worth the value of your gold. Then you'd trade those Reserve Notes for goods with other people, and they would be able to take the Reserve Notes to the bank to claim their gold.

[/etarulf]

The fact that it forms a coating demonstrates that it is reasonably reactive, unlike gold.

Yes, but it will last a long time with that coating. That's why you don't have to paint an airplane made of aluminum. Aluminum oxide is highly unreactive. To get aluminum to react with other things, you need to file off the coating of aluminum oxide.

[toughtrasher]

Because gold = shiny

[JustTooDank]

Aside from the obvious financial stability of gold, it has many other credits which add to it's 'appeal'. One for me is the physical versatility of gold, it is very maleable, it can be stretched as thin as a human hair and can be used for both technological and adornment purposes. Gold also has the highest anti-corrosive properties, it doesn't tarnish and can be refined with great ease. It's actually really surprising how little amount of gold exists on the earth, I think estimates have it at between 100,000-170,000 tonne, that is alot but if you consider how long the discovery of hold has gone on for it's quite small, visualize a gold bar with edges of about 19m. I'd say the vast majority of that gold was mined perhaps in the past 200years.

 

It's interesting that an even rarer metal is Platinum, but I don't know if it is more or less expensive that gold, I also don't think it has the same properties as gold does, hence why gold continues for the time being to be so valuable.

Platinum has a higher price, but not a higher value.

[Tech_Dreamer]

Rare element

Extreme demand for jewelery

used in highly conductive electronics (cpu socket pins)

traded overseas heavily controlled to keep up the price

 

 

 

Here's a fun fact:

He's right, no matter how the dollar value crash , gold is always a tradable asset, there's always "ALWAYS" demand for gold. Plus US has one of the largest heavily guarded Vaults containing Solid pure gold alone , which it trades with other countries but the gold is never physically removed from the vault but, is  assigned a space for each country it trades with , kind of like a resorvoir that is heavily guarded. (once depicted in a james bond movie) .

 

 

ninja hates bling

[jezza39]

Supply/Demand. 

 

It's also pretty

[ShadowCaptain]

Money is just a number!
 

 

(sorry I had to)

 

Yeah I guess since gold is such a stable entity it can be considered a universal currency. It is very stable, not owned by anybody or any banks and is a great alternative to cash