Scandinavia and the World
Scandinavia and the World

Comments #9638501:


It's important to know what you like 24 5, 2:56am

'@rphb' "maple leaf gold coin with the newest lazar engraving, it is every bit as secure as a modern central bank note."
Security features are on reverse. From the looks of it, nothing prevents me from drilling out the side, introducing tungsten or lead element, covering it with gold and reapplying reeds. Would need a specifically formed replacement elements and maybe a laser to melt a gold plug in place, but I guess it can still be possible in near future if not already.

"So no gold is not difficult at all to transport"
It does if you're talking about millions of dollars daily. Security and some heavy lifting will be required.

"bailment service like goldmoney"
So then you surrender control of your gold and have to trust fraud and theft resistance of third party. It works as long as gold is a gimmick and not a widely used currency.

"People don’t borrow money to buy gold like they borrow money to buy real estate"
At least some people in 2011 did.

"could lose thy farm to government confiscation"
Same goes for gold.

"Both are worth 1 million dollars. Al have his farm and Ben have it in gold (about 3,7 kilogram)."
One million US dollars would be about 25kg of gold at current price. If Ben is not shot while illegally crossing the border at night, in new place of residence he will have to assay the gold and, most likely, prove it's provenance, unless he is relieved from it by local criminals. More likely is that before he can bolt across the border, government thugs will come for him because someone informed them about a guy that was buying gold before. Even if gold is stashed away securely, Ben is likely to tell where it is after they use a hammer on his fingers or bastard file on his teeth. Opponent has a say in your plans too.

2) "The difference is that the US is a lot bigger then Zimbabwe"
No, difference was that FRS uses inflation targeting and Gideon Gono is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

3) "The Great Depression, did not hit everyone, the soviet union was spared,"
No. Soviet economy was already struck by isolation and falling price of grain decimated profit from export. Skilled economic refugees from abroad were useful, but some of them eventually got a free trip to Siberia.

"and gold proved itself to be the primary safe heaven in the west."
So much that Great Britain could pull itself out of recession only when gold standard was abandoned.

4) "No because then we aren’t using it as a medium of exchange, then we are treating it as a hot potato to get rid of as soon as possible. "
It serves it function and it's use incurs no loss to both parties of the deal. There was no difficulty in finding willing buyers even during race to the bottom. Selling large volume without loss could take some time, but market as a whole was relatively shallow back then.

"imagine that people want to be paid in it, but no employee, supplier or customer would want a salary or contract in bitcoin"
Some already do, and it's not even widely accepted yet.

"The most important aspect of a currency is short time price stability."
Yeah, gold has issues with that too.

Greater adoption and capitalization, technological maturity will lead to a decrease in volatility.
"That is just a postulate, or what can be called “wishful thinking”."
No. Main reasons for price oscillations are news about changes in legal status, access to market in new countries or improvements in technology. Price will stabilize once those factors are settled and volume of trades is such that it would be difficult for individual "whales" to create large swings. Greatest threat for bitcoin is it's founders stash, there is no guarantee that it will never move again and there is a lot in there. Other cryptocurrencies are less exposed to such risk.

"But why would there ever be greater adoption when it don’t fulfil the primary need of a currency. In a time of greater and greater uncertainty, people desire security."
Sucks to be them.

"Gold have maintained a very stable purchasing over thousands of years."
Not even over recent decade.

"In ancient Rome one could buy a toga and a pair of sandals for one ounce of gold, today a fancy suit and a pair of designer shoes can be bought for the same."
Sounds awfully lot like a conjecture.

Same goes for gold. Demand for industrial applications is nowhere near justifying it's current price
"That is because gold is not just a commodity."
So it's price is an agreed upon fiction.

" it might be true that the Big Mac is going to become cheaper, but is that really a bad thing"
Yes, if you were the one who trusted in Mac Standard. You could have invested the same money in, I don't know, burger flipping robot manufacturer and get a much better return on investment.

"If we had invested in gold we would be able to buy more"
If current trend holds - not likely.

"But that is the risk, because there is always risk."
Bingo. So either you do not trust in any gold or mac standard and hold and manage your investments in stock and/or own business carefully or don't save at spend about as much as you earn.