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Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

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Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#211

Post by heresie-dabord »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #193
doctoboggan wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When smaller countries collapse (as measured by percentage of global GDP) then the IMF, neighboring allies, etc can step in and keep things stable. If the US economy collapses, that's 25% of global GDP, not to mention the ripple effects on other economies and possible power struggles as countries try to adjust to a post US world. If you think the US is at risk of collapsing however I would suggest you buy a gun befor…

> If you think the US is at risk of collapsing however I would suggest you buy a gun before gold You need friends and allies before you need guns.

> You need friends and allies before you need guns.

In one short sentence you may have summarised the difference between other societies and the USA.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#212

Post by mekoka »

ArtTimeInvestor wrote: post #46
e63f67dd-065b wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can see it happening right now in Argentina: the local currency is worthless, and people are flocking to ... US Dollars. Not gold, not bitcoins, but good old benjamins. So gold isn't even a good inflation hedge: if you walked the streets of a failing economy (pick one: Argentina, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, there's plenty more) and tried to exchange gold for goods, you're not gonna get far (and will probably get mugged…

Why do you think that people in Argentina are flocking to Dollar and not to Bitcoin or Gold? When I look at the search trends in Argentina, I see Bitcoin in a very volatile longterm uptrend, Gold in a longterm downtrend and the Dollar being constantly a distant third: https://trends.google.de/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AR&q=go... Over the 20 years which the Peso has been devaluing, Bitcoin has outpaced the others by…

> What other indicators could we look at to get a better picture?

Depends how you look at that picture. Let me ask this, if 100 people buy bitcoins and 100 people buy the equivalent dollar value, what proportion of each group will generally be checking how much their purchase is worth on a daily basis?

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#213

Post by Ferret7446 »

jansan wrote: post #20
ggm wrote: post #8

I'd love to see an economists take on the value to a consumer of holding gold in this form, at the price. Investment gold is usually kept in vault, and you trade ownership arms length. Direct gold ownership is rife with risks: fineness, substitutions and overpriced purchase. Yes, you can always sell at a mall gold trader but that's way way off market price. So it's an inflation hedge with a lot of cost and risk and d…

Before 2008 quite a few people around me were purchasing physical gold. I even know of one guy who bought 20000€ worth of gold. AFAIK none of them had any idea afterwards what to with that stuff. I assume it is rotting (or keeps on shining) in their basements and will only be touched when they die or move out.

One of the nice things about gold (one reason it is so valuable) is that it doesn't "rot" or degrade, like, at all. Naturally, it does not tarnish.

So unless you have a lot of aqua regia lying about in your house, it will remain exactly as is.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#214

Post by bluetidepro »

robertk wrote: post #206
denlekke wrote: post #40

i wonder if people are buying these to meet minimum spend requirements for credit card sign up bonuses and reselling right away("manufactured spend")

Costco only takes cash and debit, not credit.

Huh? That’s not true at all. I use my credit card at Costco all the time.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#215

Post by is_true »

ArtTimeInvestor wrote: post #46
e63f67dd-065b wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can see it happening right now in Argentina: the local currency is worthless, and people are flocking to ... US Dollars. Not gold, not bitcoins, but good old benjamins. So gold isn't even a good inflation hedge: if you walked the streets of a failing economy (pick one: Argentina, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, there's plenty more) and tried to exchange gold for goods, you're not gonna get far (and will probably get mugged…

Why do you think that people in Argentina are flocking to Dollar and not to Bitcoin or Gold? When I look at the search trends in Argentina, I see Bitcoin in a very volatile longterm uptrend, Gold in a longterm downtrend and the Dollar being constantly a distant third: https://trends.google.de/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AR&q=go... Over the 20 years which the Peso has been devaluing, Bitcoin has outpaced the others by…

Try now: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AR&q=g...

Not even "Messi" can beat the "dolar blue"

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#216

Post by kenneth »

I used to buy gold bullion as a sneaky way to get credit card points on the cheap (and then use them for first class flights around the world). You could usually do the trade profitably and quickly and quite safely with insured shipping via USPS. $50k at a time. It was a bit sketchy to have that much in bullion at home, and I quickly got bored of it.

The things you do when you're young…

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#217

Post by mikk14 »

dh5 wrote: post #64
ArtTimeInvestor wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think that people in Argentina are flocking to Dollar and not to Bitcoin or Gold? When I look at the search trends in Argentina, I see Bitcoin in a very volatile longterm uptrend, Gold in a longterm downtrend and the Dollar being constantly a distant third: https://trends.google.de/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AR&q=go... Over the 20 years which the Peso has been devaluing, Bitcoin has outpaced the others by…

How are search trends the same as ownership of the currency? Also in Argentina it's "dólar," not "dollar": https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AR&q=g...

Since we are here, why "gold" and not the actual Spanish word "oro"?

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=AR&q=g...

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#218

Post by uptown »

kenneth wrote: post #216

I used to buy gold bullion as a sneaky way to get credit card points on the cheap (and then use them for first class flights around the world). You could usually do the trade profitably and quickly and quite safely with insured shipping via USPS. $50k at a time. It was a bit sketchy to have that much in bullion at home, and I quickly got bored of it. The things you do when you're young…

Who would you sell the bullion to to cash out?

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#219

Post by bombcar »

hliyan wrote: post #204
brutus1213 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very positive post. Thank you for sharing. My spouse and I both had a short part of our childhood in a poor and wonky South Asian country. We both feel that people (and ourselves) are far less helpful to our neighbours and strangers in the west vs. back home. It actually felt different in the 90s vs. today. I recall being in the west and someone offering me a ride when the subway was closed (like 25 years ago). I jus…

Thanks for sharing. That reminded me of another experience: around 2012, the front left wheel of my car ended up in a ditch by the side of the road. I was considering calling a tow truck, when a crowd gathered and told me to get in the car and hit reverse when they gave the signal. Then they proceeded to literally lift the car out of the ditch . I had barely enough time to mumble thanks before the crowd dispersed as…

The car and ditch thing is still very common in the Midwest when it snows. I swear the pastime there is to hide in the snow waiting for someone to get highcentered in an u plowed parking lot given how many people appeared out of nowhere to push.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#220

Post by tokai »

atdrummond wrote: post #68
olivermuty wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that prepper scenario is way more likely in a «I got mine, screw you» society like the US. All the countries you list have their issues, but their base level of societal egalitarism is orders of magnitude higher. I would not be surprised if the US is one of the few countries to end up like Mad Max if the world order should fully collapse due to climate change or other large scale events.

I’ve lived in two dozen countries and the US is the most community oriented of them all outside major cities. US charitable giving alone suggests your view of the country as individualism run amok is likely not the whole story.

Charity is peak individualism. In real communal places helping those in need is handled structured and organized, not just hinging on individual decisions.
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