What makes gold so valuable?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - What makes gold so valuable? (Page 1 of 4)

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:26:33 PM EDT

I have a theory that it is used to power alien space craft and when we can no longer obtain it the aliens will destroy us. The Egyptians used the pyramids to haul it up to them and when they were no longer able to mine it they were destroyed. Same with all ancient civilizations. With that said, what "REALY" makes it so freaking valuable other than it is pretty and rare?

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:27:29 PM EDT

[#1]

Because people just think it is. Just like paper money.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:30:10 PM EDT

[#2]

Diamonds are the same also. Someone sets a price on an object and creates a thought that the item is a must have, and people buy.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:30:27 PM EDT

[#3]

It's a great conductor, great insulator, and doesn't corrode tarnish.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:31:25 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
Because people just think it is. Just like paper money.

Exactly.

It is as "fiat" as any paper currency, in that it only has value as long as people BELIEVE it has value. The benefit of gold is that the belief is far more established for gold, so people are more likely to keep believing in it.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:33:41 PM EDT

[#5]

Gold has some great industrial uses, folks...

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:33:55 PM EDT

[#6]

It has certain qualities that aren't found in other metals.

...and it's scarce.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:33:59 PM EDT

[#7]

Because the majority of people are stupid beyond belief.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:34:34 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Because people just think it is. Just like paper money.

Exactly.

It is as "fiat" as any paper currency, in that it only has value as long as people BELIEVE it has value. The benefit of gold is that the belief is far more established for gold, so people are more likely to keep believing in it.

I wouldn't say it is as "fiat" as paper.

It has several unique properties that make it desirable as jewelery and useful in industry. On top of being somewhat rare.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:35:11 PM EDT

[#9]

What makes gold valuable is the same thing that makes a good blow job, a good blow job.

If you don't get that....... well, then may God have mercy upon your soul.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:35:28 PM EDT

[#10]

Women like it* therefore its like pussy thats publicly traded.

Pussy is at an all time high.

*some

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:35:31 PM EDT

[#11]

It's useful. Same as platinum. Diamonds are also useful above and beyond being shiny.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:35:37 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

It has certain qualities that aren't found in other metals.

...and it's scarce.

I get that, but almost all of it is not used for that. It is just kept locked up in safes.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:35:44 PM EDT

[#13]

the people who SAY GOLD IS FIAT HAVE NO FREAKING CLUE ABOUT A THING CALLED SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:36:56 PM EDT

[#14]

Its atoms.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:37:32 PM EDT

[#15]

I dunno, rubes that buy gold at inflated prices? You know what they said about the housing bubble, when the common Joe Sixpack starts talking about getting INTO flipping houses, you know it's time to get OUT.

As for the historical aspect, my theory is that it was valued by the ancients for its resistance to corrosion and tarnishing. It looks pretty and takes very little maintenance to keep it looking pretty. Compare this to silver or copper, which will tarnish over time. The ancients probably took this durability as a sign that the heavenly powers blessed the metal.

Gold is is also relatively easy to work. Doesn't take much strength to hammer gold into various shapes, or even pound it flat into gold leaf. Ancient metalworkers didn't have CNC machines so they had to work with available materials. Today you have tungsten and titanium jewelry but that is because we have the technology to machine those materials into trinkets. Ancient smiths in Europe, Asia and Africa had no such equipment.

So throw in a few millennia of ancient man "valuing" a metal due to a belief that God, Allah, Buddha or Barney the Dinosaur blessed it with magic properties, and you have a history of mankind valuing a metal for various reasons unrelated to its true worth.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:37:36 PM EDT

[#16]

Scarcity. Of course neo-communists don't believe in scarcity so that little distinction escapes their feeble minds.

The market system we have enjoyed was based on scarcity. Hence the number of people belittling gold's value has increased. With that, one could say stupidity and its ever-increasing magnitude is worthless. Where as logic and reason have value due to scarcity.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:37:37 PM EDT

[#17]

Try counterfeiting it.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:43:16 PM EDT

[#18]

because the barter system isn't feasible anymore...

Its appealing, useful, scarce, and malleable.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:47:30 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
It's a great conductor, great insulator, and doesn't corrode tarnish.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:48:46 PM EDT

[#20]

Because you can sell it for cash.

Once cash becomes worthless, so does gold

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:49:46 PM EDT

[#21]

It's like art.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:51:30 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:

Quoted:
It's a great conductor, great insulator, and doesn't corrode tarnish.

Maybe he meant it "insulates" you from poverty

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:52:13 PM EDT

[#23]

Good faith and trust. BTW it is the same thing that makes the US Dollar valuable along with all currencies in the world. The more the "Good Faith and Trust" the more it is valued. The problem with the dollar that the poverty pimps in the Democrat party have put a serious chink in the "Good Faith and Trust" in the US Dollar.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:52:14 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
Because you can sell it for cash.

Once cash becomes worthless, so does gold

lol. that wasn't true in Germany, wasn't true in Zimbabwe, wasn't true in Rome.

Can you please back that statement up with an example of a failed state's currency?

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:53:00 PM EDT

[#25]

It's so SHINY!!!

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:53:09 PM EDT

[#26]

I don't know and I don't care, as long as you will give me lots of money for it, I'll sell it to you.

what makes a sofa or a Bosch kitchen appliance so expensive? because it's what someone will pay for it.

why are Porsche cars so expensive, it's just metal and gears.?

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:53:37 PM EDT

[#27]

Tradition.

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:55:53 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
It's a great conductor, great insulator, and doesn't corrode tarnish.

Uhhhhhh, what?

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:56:15 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
I don't know and I don't care, as long as you will give me lots of money for it, I'll sell it to you.

what makes a sofa or a Bosch kitchen appliance so expensive? because it's what someone will pay for it.

why are Porsche cars so expensive, it's just metal and gears.?

Are the gears gold?

Posted: 8/9/2011 4:57:40 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
Tradition.

Yup, it has value because we agree it does and because it is limited in quantity, nothing more. For the average man it has no practical use for day to day living. I still have a small amount of it and some silver because it may have value to others, and I got the silver cheap enough - less than $7 an ounce and some for $3 and change... so why not? Guns, food, medicine and other necessities make more sense to me. Oh yeah, and gold and silver are portable, there is a plus side to that.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:00:01 PM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
the people who SAY GOLD IS FIAT HAVE NO FREAKING CLUE ABOUT A THING CALLED SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

Actually I'm sure we all know exactly how supply and demand works. A better question is why is gold so disproportionately valuable.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:00:23 PM EDT

[#32]

What is the major malfunction here? The value is in SCARCITY! You cannot make more of it, there is a finite supply. Value is not contrived, it is natural on a finite planet.

Yes, it is unreactive but so is argon and I can buy pounds of it for mere dollars. But being a gas, it has more value in shielding welds than baubles, coins and bling.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:00:31 PM EDT

[#33]

Same as diamonds. Because she'll pretty much have to.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:02:55 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:

Same as diamonds. Because she'll pretty much have to.

Bullshit, that is just another allotrope of carbon. Gold is gold. We have gigatons of carbon, even CO2 is 383 parts per million in the air. But gold we only have a tiny bit of, hence its value.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:03:53 PM EDT

[#35]

Can't eat it. So if all fails it's a rather useless piece of metal.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:05:47 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
What is the major malfunction here? The value is in SCARCITY! You cannot make more of it, there is a finite supply. Value is not contrived, it is natural on a finite planet.

Yes, it is unreactive but so is argon and I can buy pounds of it for mere dollars. But being a gas, it has more value in shielding welds than baubles, coins and bling.

Remember that Twilight Zone where the guys stole the gold and put themselves in a state of animated suspension for a hundred years? When they woke up, someboday had found a way to synthesize it.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:08:33 PM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
Because you can sell it for cash.

Once cash becomes worthless, so does gold

so gold was never valuable before paper money was invented.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:09:32 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
Gold has some great industrial uses, folks...

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:09:33 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
the people who SAY GOLD IS FIAT HAVE NO FREAKING CLUE ABOUT A THING CALLED SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

If you don't like it, that's fine. Knock yourself out.

That doesn't change the reality, however.

Gold only had value because people believe gold has value. That is pretty much the DEFINITION of "fiat"

Any currency has value because people BELIEVE in the value - the question of supply and demand is irrelevant without value.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:10:01 PM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
What is the major malfunction here? The value is in SCARCITY! You cannot make more of it, there is a finite supply. Value is not contrived, it is natural on a finite planet.

Yes, it is unreactive but so is argon and I can buy pounds of it for mere dollars. But being a gas, it has more value in shielding welds than baubles, coins and bling.

Gold has very little practical intrinsic value. I wish the tradition would die.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:10:06 PM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:
Can't eat it. So if all fails it's a rather useless piece of metal.

usually spoken by those that don't have it.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:10:18 PM EDT

[#42]

Quoted:
Can't eat it. So if all fails it's a rather useless piece of metal.

Yep. If you can't eat it, drink it, hunt with it, or otherwise use it to prolong your life, it ain't worth a damn except in perception.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:10:20 PM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:

Quoted:
It's a great conductor, great insulator, and doesn't corrode tarnish.

Uhhhhhh, what?

LOLOLOLOL.....

i just caught that.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:10:55 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:
It's a great conductor, great insulator, and doesn't corrode tarnish.

Conductor? No not really. It will conduct, yes, but copper is far better, and silver even better than copper.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:11:28 PM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Can't eat it. So if all fails it's a rather useless piece of metal.

usually spoken by those that don't have it.

In a true SHTF scenario, are you gonna hump around pounds and pounds of gold? You can bring a lot of ammo or water for the weight of gold

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:12:11 PM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:

Quoted:

What is the major malfunction here? The value is in SCARCITY! You cannot make more of it, there is a finite supply. Value is not contrived, it is natural on a finite planet.

Yes, it is unreactive but so is argon and I can buy pounds of it for mere dollars. But being a gas, it has more value in shielding welds than baubles, coins and bling.

Gold has very little practical intrinsic value. I wish the tradition would die.

Its natural scarcity makes it the perfect proxy for value.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:13:51 PM EDT

[#47]

It makes sex better, but it only lasts a couple of times.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:14:25 PM EDT

[#48]

It is portable, divisible, fungible, durable, and has a high ratio of value per unit of weight.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:18:04 PM EDT

[#49]

Here's another way to think about it. If the global supply of iron and gold were swapped at the orgin of the Earth, I suspect that there would be little chance that we would be having such a discussion over this medium right now.

Gold is shiny and therefore pretty, put from a practical point it is lacking.

Posted: 8/9/2011 5:19:34 PM EDT

[#50]

One reason is because boneheads like Greenspan and Bernanke can't print more of it. Kinda like land, oil, etc..

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - What makes gold so valuable? (Page 1 of 4)

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