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Plain and simpler: An ounce of gold during the Roman Empire would buy an nice suit and a pair of shoes. Today, an ounce of gold will buy you a nice suit and a pair of shoes.

Even plainer and even simpler: If during the reign of Caesar you had invested the price of a nice suit and a pair of shoes in gold, today you would have enough gold to buy a nice suit and a pair of shoes. That's an average return of 0% on your investment for 2000 years.

You haven't lost a dime, but you haven't made a dime either. In 2000 years, your investment has done squat. Meanwhile, a single penny, invested at a mere 3% interest, would today be worth $472,551,787,558,300,000,000,000.00

You could buy a lot of suits with that kind of money. But why take the risk, right? Better we have one suit for sure than 472 million trillion dollars by investing in the sorts of things that pay 3%.

That's an interesting analogy, and I'm not real up on the gold/paper debate, but I think I've found a flaw in it.

What could you have invested in back in the time of Caesar that would still be around today? What Roman business has withstood all the risings and fallings of civilizations that have happened since then? Even if you had been conservative and bought a 2000-year savings bond issued by the Roman government, where would you redeem it now?

Gold seems to have the power to keep buying stuff even when governments and civilizations crumble. What other investment can claim that? (too bad you can't buy stock in the Catholic Church!)