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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

#271

Post by madsbuch »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #185
xnorswap wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By not demanding better legislation, you're still being ripped off. What you describe as a "very nice low rate" is higher than the legislated EU wide limit. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/fees-for-...

Funny thing is I'm still getting between 3% and 5% cashback on my US cards that I use in the EU. Those interchange fee limits are probably EU issued cards only.

That is probably your card issuer loosing money because US cards used in Europe is a small enough segment to not demand any policy changes.

In particular the articles talks about exemptions:

> provides for a limited number of exemptions, such as business cards used only for business expenses being charged directly to the account of the company;

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#272

Post by VHRanger »

idiotsecant wrote: post #268
altacc wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I notice this when travelling the world and it's one of the main reasons I think the many of the arguments for cryptocurrency are flawed. I've used decades old dollar bills in SE Asia that have been pretty much detached from the US economy for decades and have held value better than bitcoin ever has. The value of the dollar is linked not just to the US economy but also a global black economy and that has some unoffic…

This will be true right up until the point it is not. The US dollar dominance is not a feature of the universe, it's a social agreement that, like any such agreement, will eventually come undone.

Cryptocurrencies are inherently bad currencies because of price volatility (except stable coins).

That also makes them good speculative assets fwiw

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#273

Post by BirAdam »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #261
addicted wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet the vast majority of gold being purchased at Costco is by Indian and Chinese immigrants who buy gold culturally and not as a response to global financial events and movements.

Why do Indian and chinese buy "gold culturally"? Would it be the same reasons african americans rejected the covid shots in greater numbers than the rest of the US population? Maybe they perceive something "culturally" , or maybe something historically....which has not been forgotten?

These are cultures of saving. Saving in fiat is typically worthless.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#274

Post by alephnerd »

addicted wrote: post #252
infecto wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. The easier explanation is that Costco whose customers are regularly middle class and above, love to buy whatever Costco shoves in front of them. There are other observations to be made based on cultural demographics that could also explain why these get sold so quick. I don’t think any of it has to do with your conspiracy theories though.

This is almost exactly it. Costco shoppers will buy whatever they push. And I suspect the cultural factors you’re talking about are the large number of middle class Indian and Chinese Costco shoppers who will buy gold regularly culturally, and if they see gold being sold in Costco I suspect they will buy it instantly.

> large number of middle class Indian and Chinese Costco shoppers who will buy gold regularly culturally

Gold hoarding wasn't much of a Chinese thing, and Indian gold purchases were a mix of regional biases (South Indian families seemed to purchase way more gold than equally well off North Indian families) and tend to skew more towards jewelery (why buy a store of wealth when you can buy a store of wealth and show off to the other aunties as well).

This is just being used to take advantage of deflated consumer expectations, as the article itself said

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#275

Post by mistrial9 »

pjc50 wrote: post #121
noduerme wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not exactly. I just sent this link to my (Argentine) friends with a different observation. My observation was: The United States is starting to look like Argentina. You must understand: Most Americans are not accustomed to shoving a third party currency under their mattress, or buying physical gold. The phenomenon of hyperinflation is foreign to them, and there's a steep learning curve. The actual significance of thi…

Argentina has 100% annual inflation and going up while the US has less than 10% and going down. The USD is not going anywhere spectacular, because there is no more stable country to flee to. The one thing that can reliably trigger inflation in almost any country is oil/gas shortages on the global market, and you can't hedge that with precious metals nor store a 20 year supply in your house.

> the US has less than 10%

if you read the plea from the Argentine above.. they say "peer networks to measure value" .. it implies that the entire inflation is NOT one single number. It is in sector by sector, with local "shadows" .. In the USA, it is housing obviously in large populated areas, but also health care and the cost of a University education. Those measures have climbed triple digits while yes, petrol and candy-bars are the same.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#276

Post by jihadjihad »

thelastgallon wrote: post #260

Government can take away all your gold: https://theconversation.com/how-the-us-government-seized-all... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102

> The limitation on gold ownership in the United States was repealed after President Gerald Ford signed a bill legalizing private ownership of gold coins, bars, and certificates by an Act of Congress, codified in Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 93–373,[1] which went into effect December 31, 1974.

[ibid.]

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#277

Post by oblio »

alephnerd wrote: post #250
tialaramex wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as with the people who wake up every morning expecting the Second Coming, or indeed a Nuclear War, these folks fixate on a hyperinflationary US economy so much they begin to hallucinate. Everything must be a sign. Strong job figures? Those are a precursor to hyperinflation. More mortgages fail than average? Hyperinflation on the horizon. Trump gets elected? He'll certainly cause hyperinflation. Trump loses? Demo…

HN seems to have a lot of kooks these days, or maybe the kind of people who would push back have just stopped. I've seen a surprising amount of vaccine denialism, xenophobia, unsubstantiated pop Econ takes, Peter Zeihan bullshit, etc. YC should just cut the cord on this forum tbh. It's not about "Hackers" or "News" anymore.

> YC should just cut the cord on this forum tbh. It's not about "Hackers" or "News" anymore.

It's a marketing tool for them, always was. Probably fairly cheap to run, too.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#278

Post by japanuspus »

cf141q5325 wrote: post #141
wodenokoto wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some friends who are into owning gold. Their rule of thumb is: You can own gold mines on paper, but gold, only in hand. There is a belief that there exists a lot more paper gold than actual gold. So when the run on the reserves starts, the price of gold will explode as billions of dollars worth of gold in the market disappears. Although I’m not sure if Costco buyers are thinking like that.

Its not just a belief. The ratio is something in the region of 100x. Its also not just a precious metal thing, most markets function that way due to long and short positions. The paper market is always quite a lot larger then the actual one.

[[citation needed]]

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#279

Post by olalonde »

altacc wrote: post #243
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…

I notice this when travelling the world and it's one of the main reasons I think the many of the arguments for cryptocurrency are flawed. I've used decades old dollar bills in SE Asia that have been pretty much detached from the US economy for decades and have held value better than bitcoin ever has. The value of the dollar is linked not just to the US economy but also a global black economy and that has some unoffic…

> I've used decades old dollar bills in SE Asia that have been pretty much detached from the US economy for decades and have held value better than bitcoin ever has.

I'm not sure what makes you feel that way. Gold and Bitcoin are up against the dollar in the past decade, and by a significant margin. Bitcoin is up ~225x against the dollar. Gold is up ~50x against the dollar going back five decades. The US dollar is pretty terrible at holding value.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#280

Post by codersfocus »

dvh wrote: post #38
codersfocus wrote: post #30

A couple days ago I was admiring the heavy aluminum pan I was throwing out because of nonstick coating issues. Over a hundred years ago, that pan would have been something only for the most wealthy in the world. Only a matter of time before the same happens to gold

Aluminum is 3rd most abundant element in earth crust. Gold is 75th most abundant. I don't think so. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Ear...

Who says anything about Earth's crust? I am talking about space mining. I can see gold crashing in 100 years just like aluminium.
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