Live data from Hacker News

Gold prices are hitting records

wsj.com

81–87 of 87 posts

Re: Gold prices are hitting records

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

prices, of all goods, inflate exponentially the relative value of specific goods fluctuates within a small constant in the long run, the exponential dominates the linear ---- thus the price of gold is a yardstick of the exponential inflation of prices, irrespective of the relative fluctuations of gold vs food vs energy

In an economy, gold is just one more good. Sure, we could use it as an inflation index. Or we could use gasoline, or new cars, or eggs, or any of a million other things. Why should we use gold as opposed to all those other things? Or, here's an idea, maybe we should use a weighted index of several of those things as a measure, in order to prevent misleading data from the fluctuations in the price of any one item?

> Or, here's an idea, maybe we should use a weighted index of several of those things as a measure

That's done already. More useful: such index as a ratio of wages. Say, [price of standardized basket of commodities] / minimum wage.

That would tell you how many # of paid work needed to (for example) fill a shopping cart with a week's worth of food + heating / powering one's home over that time.

("minimum wage" = applies to folks scraping by in low-paid jobs. Higher earners are living the good life anyway, imho).

Re: Gold prices are hitting records

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In an economy, gold is just one more good. Sure, we could use it as an inflation index. Or we could use gasoline, or new cars, or eggs, or any of a million other things. Why should we use gold as opposed to all those other things? Or, here's an idea, maybe we should use a weighted index of several of those things as a measure, in order to prevent misleading data from the fluctuations in the price of any one item?

> Or, here's an idea, maybe we should use a weighted index of several of those things as a measure That's done already. More useful: such index as a ratio of wages. Say, [price of standardized basket of commodities] / minimum wage. That would tell you how many # of paid work needed to (for example) fill a shopping cart with a week's worth of food + heating / powering one's home over that time. ("minimum wage" = appli…

Excellent idea. minimum / median / x% quartiles.

Re: Gold prices are hitting records

#84
post #83

Maybe because Russia is buying all the gold: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/russians-bought-... to circumvent sanctions: https://www.reuters.com/markets/russia-with-gold-uae-cashes-...

Russia is not alone on this: https://www.ft.com/content/76bddb74-4ddb-4e36-b70c-c0e26d8bf...

Re: Gold prices are hitting records

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many hedges against inflation. Gold is more akin to a hedge against catastrophe. Unlike commodities or industrial shares, gold can be hidden and transported personally.

Is it these sort of buyers that have a major influence on the price though? (I don't know the answer.) If you buy a large amount of gold on an exchange the physical gold often stays in the exact same vault, and someone just updates an ownership record.

Always buy and own gold (in decreasing priority):

(1) Physically in your custody in a secure place. Not always possible, e.g. digital nomad.

(2) Physical at a bullion dealer in a westernized country with a vaulting service that records your private ownership, so it is owned by you as property, in their custody, with a daily audit with your name on it, not as a financial liability of the vaulting company - i.e. outside the banking system, and not in a safe-deposit vault that restricts liability for precious metals.

(3) A financial instrument in a westernized country tied to audited physical holdings, e.g. Sprott Physical Gold, not GLD ETF, which is just manipulated paper fiction.

No other option - except perhaps some gold jewelry, which is not really secure, but can easily be worn when crossing borders (usually up to $10k without declaration, and above $10k is often easy, except at times of national panic/emergency/reset, whether real, imagined or fabricated to steal your gold).

Also be very careful about T&Cs for funding (2) & (3) through a joint account, even if your gold account is in your name only. If you get divorced, you may find that your ex owns half your gold, independent of any settlement, and ignoring any routing of the money from your pre-marriage wealth into your single-named gold account.

Re: Gold prices are hitting records

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was the most severe recession since the Great depression lol good times /s https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1980s_recession Good time to buy defense contractor stock because one way to get out of serious depressions/recession is a war. And the presidential election is next year...

I wonder how the US army feels about a South American venture this time? Given the things happening in Guyana.

Given how small the Venezuelan military is, I’d wager the Americans would see it as too easy.

What Guyana needs is to invite the British and American military in for a joint “training” exercise. The uk has a nice new aircraft carrier that could do with a shake down.

Post reply on HN