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To: cpdiii
... it is still about half of what it was in 1980.

An old Apple computer of that era ran you a grand or two depending. By your logic, personal computers would cost $10-$15k instead of $300-$500. The price of gold recorded in the papers is the "marginal price of gold" which by its nature has to be volatile as the market seeks out the worth of gold to the most marginal user. A sudden rush of gold (or any commodity) into the market would rapidly depress the price you see in the papers until the market clears the available product. The market is working to maintain a relatively constant ratio between the price of gold and the price of a barrel of oil. The two move in tandem.

With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to some of the highest in the G-7, the dollar become more attractive. The value of currency is set by the relative ratio of the government guaranteed riskless return of a bond denominated in that currency.
45 posted on 04/16/2006 8:16:40 PM PDT by sefarkas (Why vote Democrat Lite?)
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To: sefarkas
The market is working to maintain a relatively constant ratio between the price of gold and the price of a barrel of oil. The two move in tandem.

No they do not. Just a few years ago oil bottomed out at 7 dollars a barrel. Gold was about 275 dollars an ounce. Oil responds to free market forces of supply and demand and to a certain extent fear. Golds price is controlled mostly by fear. Commodities will rise as a group. Gold will also rise as a commodity but will also have wild swings in value based on fear in the market. When people are afraid, as now, it is a good investment.

46 posted on 04/16/2006 8:23:15 PM PDT by cpdiii (roughneck (oil field trash and proud of it), geologist, pilot, pharmacist, full time iconoclast)
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To: sefarkas
With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to some of the highest in the G-7, the dollar become more attractive. The value of currency is set by the relative ratio of the government guaranteed riskless return of a bond denominated in that currency.

Of course, the supply of the currency has nothing to do with its value. Which is why its not even worth reporting to the public.

65 posted on 04/17/2006 10:39:16 AM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Truth has become so rare and precious she is always attended to by a bodyguard of lies.)
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