Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

371–380 of 515 posts

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#371

Post by RandomLensman »

olalonde wrote: post #370
RandomLensman wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said, currency is by design (targeted positive inflation) not there to be a long-term store of value. Not sure anything but productive assets could really be that.

> Not sure anything but productive assets could really be that. reply I just mentioned one: gold. It's a bit early to tell for Bitcoin, of course it's probably not going to be doing 225x every decade, but I could see it holding its value better than the US dollar does.

Not sure about gold in the really long-term. There is some data but those comparisons are quite difficult and often flawed. For example, the amount of work you can buy per unit weight of gold might very well be down noticeably from the middle ages.

Bitcoin we can come back to in another 150 years or so.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#372

Post by tialaramex »

noduerme wrote: post #335
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…

Poster you're responding to, here. I completely agree that the US is not in imminent danger of hyperinflation, so long as it continues to assert itself through foreign policy and maintains the bully pulpit of democracy and the inertia of empire it's developed by putting boots on the ground anywhere its material interests are seriously threatened. Do you see me buying Argentine bonds? No, I have a Roth and a 401k. Doe…

Lots of things could happen. Gamma Ray bombardment sterilisation of the solar system for example. That's the set up for the main plot of Greg Egan's "Diaspora".

But since neither becoming a Gleisner Robot nor Polis Citizenship are possible for me it's futile to spend time worrying about a nearby Gamma Ray burst. If it happens I would likely die instantly, but even if not there's no reason to plan for that.

I care about contingency planning a great deal but it makes no sense to plan for events which are both extremely unlikely and very difficult to successfully ameliorate.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#373

Post by kortilla »

cf141q5325 wrote: post #292
japanuspus wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[[citation needed]]

Edit: This should do >The ratio of iron-ore derivatives to physical trading volume was about 25 times, far lower than the 80-100 time for more mature commodities such as gold and copper, according to a study by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing. https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/expect-chinas-fu... Silver is quite a lot worse btw Might be worth pointing out that this isnt surprising given the activity of specu…

Derivatives are not the same thing as paper gold and conflating the two is just a sales tactic to push the oversubscription meme.

Paper gold is something like the gold ETFs where a share represents gold in the fund’s vault. If those were actually fraudulent in reserves, then you would have a point.

Every commodity that has a futures and options market will have a huge ratio of derivatives to the underlying. That’s the nature of producers and consumers locking in prices and speculators getting in between.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#374

Post by kortilla »

demondemidi wrote: post #238
Spooky23 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gold is a scam. It’s an awful inflation hedge. Success in the market as far as selling it to retail is more a demonstration at how successful certain elements in society have been peddling fear.

Totally. It is 100x oversold on paper. There’s a short squeeze coming. It has nothing to due with the intrinsic value of gold and everything to do with four decades of hype convincing American rubes to buy it.

No it’s not, that 100x includes cash settled derivatives.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#375

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

eva_cananim wrote: post #162

My understanding is that holding physical gold is a big hassle when you want to sell. Sensible buyers will want to verify that it is real and not gold-plated tungsten. Fake gold bars are common. If you want to hold gold as a hedge against high inflation then you want "good delivery" gold, which stays in a vault with chain of custody records.

That’s exactly my question as well. If you turned around and immediately tried to sell the bar, what kind of loss is likely? The dealer is not going to trust a random lump of gold is legit, so they have to have some testing/risk to hedge.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#376

Post by cf141q5325 »

kortilla wrote: post #373
cf141q5325 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: This should do >The ratio of iron-ore derivatives to physical trading volume was about 25 times, far lower than the 80-100 time for more mature commodities such as gold and copper, according to a study by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing. https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/expect-chinas-fu... Silver is quite a lot worse btw Might be worth pointing out that this isnt surprising given the activity of specu…

Derivatives are not the same thing as paper gold and conflating the two is just a sales tactic to push the oversubscription meme. Paper gold is something like the gold ETFs where a share represents gold in the fund’s vault. If those were actually fraudulent in reserves, then you would have a point. Every commodity that has a futures and options market will have a huge ratio of derivatives to the underlying. That’s th…

If i am not mistaken those gold ETFs are backed by derivatives. Please do share a differing definition for "paper".

I also didnt disagree with derivative overhang being normal. Not sure why you thought it necessary to repeat.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#377

Post by spapas82 »

spapas82 wrote: post #9

Here in Greece when people want go they'll go to a bank and buy British gold pounds ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_(British_coin) ). I'm not sure there's a limit; you can buy as many as you want.

I found a bank web page (in english https://www.piraeusbank.gr/en/idiwtes/ependyseis/agora-polis...) with more info about buying gold sovereigs. A gold sovereign is sold by the bank at 480 euros (https://www.piraeusbank.gr/en/Idiwtes/Epitokia-Deltia-Timon/...)

This is very popular here because gold sovereigns here in greece are traditionally given as presents from close relatives on very important moments like marriage, child birth etc (i.e when a child is born its grandparents will give a gold sovereign to its parents)

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#378

Post by greenie_beans »

i came hoping for some good ideas about how to prepare for societal collapse.

left with the knowledge of arguments about storing gold for collapse, and that i might be an idiot for preparing for a collapse. also have some knowledge of argument totally unrelated to "costco gold bars are selling out within hours"

luv u hacker news.

ps wut i do prepare for collapse ?

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#379

Post by BeFlatXIII »

koheripbal wrote: post #239
ZiiS wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless high inflation topples the banks.

If one bank collapsed you can collect your non-can assets because they are custodians not owners. If the entire system collapsed then you should be holding food, not gold.

> If the entire system collapsed then you should be holding food, not gold

Or hoard bullets and high explosives to redirect food from the rubes who collected gold.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#380

Post by throwaway2203 »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #319
idiotsecant wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not to sound hyperbolic but I feel once the US Dollar crashes entirely to the degree that it no longer serves as a "default currency" of sorts, that society will have broken down far enough that even the gold will be relatively worthless and the predominant goods of choice will be cans of dog food and beans.

At that point the guys with guns take what they want so nothing you have is worth anything any more.
Post reply on HN