Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 09/28/2009 3:30:09 PM PDT by maclogo
Many gold companies use this ending line in their advertisements: "Gold has Never been worth Zero."
Is that really the best ending sales pitch they could come up with?
.
the time to buy was a few years ago...or even a few months ago...too high now.
Does the name Bernie Maddoff mean anything?
You pay to buy it (say a certificate, not the real thing) and you pay to sell it. If you had the real stuff what could you do with it? Say the dollar was worth zero. How do you value a chunk of gold against a loaf of bread? Who would then determine value? The grocer could say, “Ok, that’ll cost ya a chunk of gold” .... an ounce ... a quarter ounce? Carry a scale around with you?
Gold is a hedge, and should be treated as such.
Once everyone starts talking something up, your window of opportunity for large returns is likely gone. Best thing you could do at this point is invest in a metal detector and hope you stumble on a hiddden treasure like the guy in England did.
There is only one way to “make” money with gold ... lease it to others. Gold still buys the same things that it bought hundreds / thousands of years ago. The currency ratio to gold may change. It may take more dollars or euros to buy an ounce of gold but if you factor it backwards, how much gold is a loaf of bread or a house or whatever, you will find that through out history, the price of goods relative to gold has remained the same.
If inflation causes gold to “go up” ... what you are really seeing is the value of the currency “going down”.
It convinces the gullible.
I’m not talking about buying or not buying Gold. I’m talking about the sales pitch these companies are using to Sell it.
I’m thinking they might want to “Rethink” that.
I'm sure there are gold bugs out there who can refute those arguements (or try) but those are the exact reasons I haven't bought gold.
The price of gold relative to other commodities has changed continually throughout history. It is impossible for it not to have changed particularly since the ratios between the other commodities are not constants. Technological changes in the production processes guarantees changes in those ratios and in the value of gold/metals.
Too high now? If Iran attacks Israel or vice versa you will see how much higher gold can go. Same thing for oil...
“It convinces the gullible.”
It’s really a sad state when a company thinks more of their Customers are Gullible, than Not.
I fear that we may learn the practical answer to your question.
That, plus the fact that a very small amount of gold has a lot of value (relative to the dollar), is why I like silver. To be precise, pre-1964 90% US silver coins. Most everyone is familiar with them. They are very easily traded at multiples of face value, currently right around 11.7 to 1. People always need a medium of exchange and I believe that at sometime in the future they will be referenced in silver and cartridges. For example, 8 22LR rounds = 1 silver US dime.
In terms of gullible customers, almost every gold commercial is “head & shoulders” above the ExtenZe commercials. Viagra and Cialis is only slightly better - BLEECH!
Gullibility and ignorance are part and parcel of the appeal of gold as a monetary instrument. False monetary history and false views of the monetary system are also important.
These companies take advantage of people’s dissatisfaction and distrust of government hence, all the ads on “conservative” media. Gold is pretty though and is particularly charming adorning beautiful women.
I wonder what the sizes would be for say 1,5,10 dollars. Would inflation be so high that 100 dollars would be the lowest denomination - then how small or large would your chunk of gold have to be???
False. lead will never be as scarce as gold.
I’ll bet we’d go to what you say ...bullets for bread .... wonder what one 30-30 round would get me ....
At that point one round of ammunition would be the best value.
Unless it goes to $2000.
I carry a 100,000 ruble note (circa 1996) to show people what can happen to a currency gone crazy. At that time it was worth about $20 US.
Five years prior 100 rubles/month was a decent pensioner’s payment. In 1996, 100 rubles was the price of a plastic bag in a grocery store in Moscow.
I’ve wondered about that stupid statement too. Gold can certainly be worth a lot less than what you paid for it.
That very thing happened to a friend of mine back in the ‘70’s when the “buy gold Krugerrands” thing was the rage.
He sunk every spare cent he had into them, as it turned out, right at the peak value. Shortly after, the price of gold started dropping and he ended up losing a bunch.
I wonder why all these brokers owning gold “skyrocketing in value” are so eager to sell it for US Dollars “plummeting in value”. Why don’t they hang onto their gold?
You'd probably be better off "investing" your 30-30 round. Kill a deer and make jerky and trade the jerky.
Don’t think my apartment owner would care for me to dress out a deer in the shower ...LOL
All marketers assume their target audience people are gullible. And to a great extent they are right. If they were wrong, there would be no such business as marketing.
Buy high sell low, eh? Great strategy. Bet it works for real estate too. Have to remember that.
Chamber that round and you will be amazed at how much stuff you can get for free (I'm just kidding! I'm in a "bad joke" mood today)!
I don’t trust any outfit that advertises as much as these folks do. Any company that blows as much of it’s cash on advertising as these do is suspect to me. Geico comes to mind—they are everywhere.
maybe... factor in the devalued dollar due to the printing of an extra $1 trillion... and the $700 last spring compared to $1000 now seems a bit low.
tack onto that the sudden drop of commercial loans (wait until next month) and the realization that 50% of home loans cannot be foreclosed on... and its about to get very ugly.
oh, and that’s before you add the bonus of reduced wages due to higher taxes and inflation.
i’ll take gold any day over that cute thing that use to be called the dollar (just call it $0.05 now)
I passed by a restaurant not too long ago that appears out of business. The marque outside said “Come on in, we’ve got killer seafood”. I thought perhaps that’s why they are no longer in business.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2348718/posts?page=19#19
If you own a piece of paper that says you "own" gold, good luck with that if things go south or the government decides it won't let you have it. Believe me, they can do it.
The only way to "own" gold is to have physical possession of it.
PRICE: $53.20 PRICE: $53.80
Could be right there.
I'd bet it'd get you killed most likely.
What, you think the baker doesn't have a sawed off 12 gauge under the register?
I aim to be long on coffee and toilet paper in case of emergency. I think those commodities would be good for bargaining :-)
The question you pose becomes problematic even with NO inflation. Just secular increase in production causes it to become significant since the rate of increase in the world supply of precious metals is too low, <1.2% per yr since 1500, to match the economic growth rate of around 3%. It is worth noting that the 1.2% rate includes the tremendous hoards taken from the New World by the Spanish something never to be repeated.
Thus, a gold standard leds to permanent bias to slow growth and wars over money supply. These are among the principle reasons we will never see metal based money supplies barring a Mad Max world of the future.
Value is not necessarily tied to scarcity.
If you can’t do something useful with a commodity, what is it really worth?
You can’t eat Gold.
If there is no one to trade with it is worthless for the time.
I do own both Gold and silver, but only in small easily traded denominations.
Per previous posts regarding trading rounds for food ... I wonder what I could trade a 30-30 round for ....
Zimbabwe - gold for breadMDC activist Sam Chakaipa returns to his village in rural Zimbabwe to find his friends and neighbours starving to death, reduced to panning gold powder from the rivers to exchange for food at an exorbitant rate ...
How it works is, they pan in the rivers for gold. Their currency is worthless. They use the gold to buy food, but get a rather bad deal, because of the collapse of the market and law and order in Zim. However, they do get some food - a dozen loaves of bread for a tiny little spec of gold.
Those that kept their money in cash, get nothing. Those that kept their money in gold, get to trade it as a currency.
These few people are fortunate and are exploiting a niche market where gold can be traded.
Can I take my 1 Oz. Mapleleaf down to the local Krogers to buy a pound of hamburger and some Buns? No.
Should the Starving Hoards from L.A. descend upon the American River in hopes of getting a few grains of dust?
Probably not a good Idea right now.
The Trade in gold dust is and has been mostly confined to Frontier Settlements.
If things get Really Bad, There is a possibility that Gold and Silver may be traded for goods, Until then it is a Hedge.
I think they are working the inference to something lime Enron or AIG or GM. Companies that were worth something once, but are not worth anything now.
It sounds like you have a functioning brain. Therefore, the pitch doesn’t work.
Gold is not an investment. Its a hedge against inflation. The stock market works the devaluation of the currency in as well—just not as directly. The stock market goes up, gold goes up and it takes more dollars to buy a commodity. If you own gold, in the end the “value” of the gold doesn’t change.
When you think something can't go higher, it does. When you think something cannot go lower..it does.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.