Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The truth is - gold is a commodity like any other commodity. ....
If this is the case, then you are saying that commodity investment is invalid. I don't think so.
Forgetting that gaffe, this is where you are fundamentally wrong in your understanding of gold. There is no other commodity (except for silver) that is held by governments and central banks to protect their currencies. There is no other commodity that is specified in the US constitution as the basis for lawful money which is still valid in this country especially if they decide to mothball the federal reserve. There is no other commodity that is used as a store of abstract wealth. This is true historically and true even now. Especially now. Anyone who equates gold to ears of corn simply does not understand it's role in the world. It's not my job to educate the unwilling on this.
This topic was whether or not to buy it and there are certainly plenty of reasons to do so. I have not seen that you have provided any rationale for not buying gold as an investment because even if you do just equate it to nothing more than a commodity, then investment in commodities are certainly valid.
If you don't believe in commodity investment then so be it. If you believe that gold is somehow different as a commodity then you just blew your whole argument in the foot. You can't have it both ways.
The charts you provided show a clear increase in gold over time. Crash means = 0. When was gold worth nothing? I can name a number of stocks that have become worth 0. I asked this above and somehow you ignored it. Oh, but then again you have since said it is nothing but a commodity and everyone knows that in the short term commodities are volatile. Unless of course you are saying that Gold is different than regular commodities. LOL
Your arguments are not rational. First you claim that gold crashes, then you claim it is a commodity as if that is bad, and this is after you remember the one gold bubble that existed 35 years ago.
The charts you provided show a clear increase in gold over time. Crash means = 0. When was gold worth nothing? I can name a number of stocks that have become worth 0. I asked this above and somehow you ignored it. Oh, but then again you have since said it is nothing but a commodity and everyone knows that in the short term commodities are volatile. Unless of course you are saying that Gold is different than regular commodities. LOL
Your arguments are not rational. First you claim that gold crashes, then you claim it is a commodity as if that is bad, and this is after you remember the one gold bubble that existed 35 years ago.
Crash doesn't mean "0" - quit making up your OWN definitions. By YOUR definition the stock market never "crashed" in 1929 because the DOW was never reduced to "0" and the NASDAQ didn't crash either because it too was never reduced to "0". Get a clue and quit living in your own fantasy world where YOU make up the definition and the reality. You say gold has never been reduced to "0" - so what? The S&P index fund has never been reduced to "0" either. Your definition of a good investment is something that's never been reduced to "0"? I got news for you - that's not a very good selling point. I don't want something that "will never be '0'". I want something that will GROW.
Regarding the gold bubble collapse of 1980 - yeah gold has done well the last 10 years or so (better than the market - but then again, that's not hard considering the market sucked over that time). My question is how long did it take gold to recovery after the gold collapse of 1980?
Try nearly 30 years.
It took gold nearly 30 years just to get back to EVEN - not to gain in value, just to get back to EVEN - and taking inflation into account it's STILL not even back to EVEN.
As I said. Gold is commodity.
It is NOT guaranteed to gain value.
It can climb.
It can fall.
It can stay down after a fall for a long, long time.
So you accuse me of cherry picking results, then you pick one particular date and do the same thing.
Umm...duh? The point is that gold is very volatile so how well you do in it as an investment depends on when you happen to buy and sale.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lumbollo
I have heard this excuse to stay away from gold before and what is always left off is that period which lasted just a few months...
Excuse? Gold is risky there is really no denying that. You should treat an investment in gold as you would money you'd go to Vegas with...its just gambling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lumbollo
You are losing out by holding assets in $s or putting money in the markets.
This is silly, there is far more money in other financial markets than there is in gold.
....My question is how long did it take gold to recovery after the gold collapse of 1980?...
The point is irrelevant. You can cherry any point in time and come up with this kind of argument for almost anything. How long do you think it will take for Nasdaq to make its way back to 5000?
You have equated Gold to nothing more than a commodity. By your definition then it should be no different an investment than any other commodity. Now unless you are saying that commodities are bad investments your entire anti-gold stance is illogical.
This is silly, there is far more money in other financial markets than there is in gold.
The silly thing is that you are even still talking about gold given your analogies to castaways on deserted islands, seeds and farming equipment. The conclusion is that you know nothing about it. The OP asked in this topic if they should invest in gold. You have not given one answer towards that, as usual, and spent most of your time attacking others.
The only things that will be left after we become an impoverished nation from debt when paper becomes worthless. We will see it is cheap now to what it will become.
The point is irrelevant. You can cherry any point in time and come up with this kind of argument for almost anything. How long do you think it will take for Nasdaq to make its way back to 5000?
I have NO idea how long it will take NASDAQ to make it's way back to 5,000. Did I ever I did?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lumbollo
You have equated Gold to nothing more than a commodity. By your definition then it should be no different an investment than any other commodity. Now unless you are saying that commodities are bad investments your entire anti-gold stance is illogical.
It IS no different from any other commodity. That's my whole point.
The fact is, commodity trading is risky - with far more volatility than stocks. You can make big money quick - and you can LOSE big money quick. It like that old saying:
"The best way to make a small fortune trading commodities is to start with a big one."
I have no problem with people buying gold and investing in gold.
What I have a problem with is those that promote such investing as SAFE.
Sure - your investment will never go to ZERO.
Whoopty Doo!
That in NO WAY means that you won't LOSE MONEY.
People need to understand - commodity trading IS risky.
Will gold go higher?
Maybe.
But it seems to me that the whole argument of the "Buy Gold" gang is that folks should buy it because the dollar is "certain" to collapse.
And to that, all I can say is - if you are buying gold because of that argument, you better pray that you are right - because it that doesn't happen - if the dollar doesn't collapse but rather stabilizes (or even just drifts slowly down), then gold prices will probably end up collapsing when realization of that fact sinks in.
And since I don't believe the dollar is heading for any kind of major collapse, I'm of the opinion that gold prices WILL plummet. Will it happen tormorrow?
Not likely.
But in an environment (like this one) where almost the entire rationale for buying gold is some unrealistic "hyperinflation scenario", folks who are buying gold are taking a huge risk - because if that DOESN'T happen, they could lose a LOT. Even those nations - such as China and India - that are buying up gold are not in the process of getting rid of all their dollars (as the gold hawkers would have you believe). Those countries are STILL maintaining the bulk of their reserves in US dollars (NOT in gold) - so the argument that those countries are somehow buying gold because they are expecting a collapse of the US dollar is completely idiotic. If they were expecting a collapse of the US dollar (as if somehow THOSE countries leaders were somehow psychic and could see the future (a dumb idea to start with)) they wouldn't still be maintaining such large reserves of US dollars - reserves which DWARF their gold holdings. So the whole idea that somehow the fact that these countries are buying gold somehow indicates a coming collapse of the dollar is just plain ignorant, silly and WRONG.
Just sayin'...
Ken
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I got news for you - that's not a very good selling point. I don't want something that "will never be '0'". I want something that will GROW.
