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

A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 84 posts

Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

#51

Post by carlosjobim »

KetoManx64 wrote: post #38
carlosjobim wrote: post #5

Name one thing in the universe which is better than gold? Tip: You can't.

Better than gold in what aspect? Good luck trying to move to a different country and bringing all your gold with you without filling out a hell of a lot of forms and risking confidcation for "money laundering". Bitcoin doesn't have this problem The supply of gold is always inflating. One day we will have asteroid mining of gold and it will be inflated even more. Bitcoin doesn't have this problem. Nobody will accept y…

Have you tried? Gold is tax free for import and export practically everywhere. At most you need to declare it, and that's it. Customs look at your declaration for one second and waves you by. Same with large amounts of fiat money.

And even if you want to "smuggle" gold, it's not hard either. Nothing is easier.

> One day we will have asteroid mining of gold

Rejoice, that will be the best day in the history of humanity!

Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

#52

Post by carlosjobim »

ReptileMan wrote: post #10
carlosjobim wrote: post #5

Name one thing in the universe which is better than gold? Tip: You can't.

Oxygen

Gold is a noble metal and doesn't react with anything.

Oxygen is one of the most ignoble gases, and reacts with almost everything.

Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

#53

Post by recursivedoubts »

clearstack wrote: post #9

[flagged]

Correct: gold is a store of value, not an investment.

In an ideal world gold would be convertible to and from currency tax free so it could be used as such. A gold-backed currency is too constrained by the supply of gold in the world, but tax-free gold would allow people to avoid currency depreciation and the credit collapses of our current debt-based system without paying a penalty.

Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

#55

Post by RajT88 »

rationalist wrote: post #13
clearstack wrote: post #9

[flagged]

Paper/plastic currency (cash) has 0 FCF, 0 earnings, 0 dividends. The whole thesis is you trade it at a deprecated rate later. You can trade gold and cash with people a lot more easily than an equity in your brokerage account.

It's just not the same when your crew has another ship's crew at its mercy, loaded blunderbusses at the ready, waiting for the leather sacks and chests full of bitcoin to be turned over.

Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

#56

Post by Yossarrian22 »

pydry wrote: post #41
XorNot wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No the thesis of cash is that it's a legally enforced means to extinguish debts within a certain legal jurisdiction. A court cannot generally find that I must furnish someone with some weight of gold for example but they can find a monetary value in sovereign currency which I must supply.

The thesis for gold is that it holds its value in times of war when companies and governments fall apart.

Any war that has the USD no longer be accepted has significant existential risk, and besides if things devolve that much you should be worrying about any entity holding the gold for you or someone killing you for the gold you personally hold.

Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

#58

Post by rationalist »

karlgkk wrote: post #33
rationalist wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paper/plastic currency (cash) has 0 FCF, 0 earnings, 0 dividends. The whole thesis is you trade it at a deprecated rate later. You can trade gold and cash with people a lot more easily than an equity in your brokerage account.

Yeah man you missed the point. Gold is not good as an investment vehicle. As a daily currency, it also has sharp downsides, but at least it’s not all bad.

I'm sorry, I didn't make my point well, that's on me. My point was that gold isn't just an investment.

Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

#59

Post by nh23423fefe »

teekert wrote: post #46
XorNot wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No the thesis of cash is that it's a legally enforced means to extinguish debts within a certain legal jurisdiction. A court cannot generally find that I must furnish someone with some weight of gold for example but they can find a monetary value in sovereign currency which I must supply.

The thesis of cash is that governments and their influencers can turn some knobs and decrease its value and enrich themselves simultaneously by creating more of it. A lot of it as debt for the normals.

incoherent

Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold

#60

Post by nh23423fefe »

euroderf wrote: post #11
carlosjobim wrote: post #5

Name one thing in the universe which is better than gold? Tip: You can't.

Nothing is better than gold. A ham sandwich is better than nothing. Therefore a ham sandwich is better than gold.

the scholastics were right about everything
Post reply on HN