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| latehorn |
 Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:42 am Post subject: Silver vs Gold |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 76
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Which should you buy, and why? Which will prove to be the better investment in the long term? Let's compare and contrast.
Why is gold useful, and why is it particularly useful as money? Gold is valuable & portable because it's rare & not easily counterfeited. Gold is fungible & exchangeable because every bit of .999 fine gold is similar enough to be like another. Gold does not rust as it's imperishable. These properties make gold a good store of value, a medium of exchange, and a unit of account. Therefore, gold is easily tradable with a narrow spread, meaning it has a small price between the bid and ask-the prices to buy and sell. Gold is therefore the ultimate liquid asset, a luxury, and is why gold is money. |
The remainder of this editorial by Jason Hommel can be found at: http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/hommel080104.html
I left the opening paragraph or so, but if you wish to read it in full, follow the link. I deleted the remainder in accordance with copyright & Fair Use policy. This editorial is Copyright 1997-2005 vronsky and westerman.
-SkinWalker
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Global warming discussion |
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| Ophiolite |
| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:43 am Post subject: |
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Forum Radioactive Isotope
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 4062
Location: Scotland
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H.L.Hunt.  |
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| SkinWalker |
| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 11:14 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 805
Location: Grand Prairie, TX
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Please consider sources to be covered by Fair Use & copyright and try to avoid copy/pasting of large amounts of text and whole articles (particularly when copyright is clearly indicated).
Also, its helpful for the spirit of discussion if you are able to offer some of your own opinions & thoughts and perhaps ask questions.
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A Hot Cup of Joe - My Blog |
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| Scifor Refugee |
| Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 953
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| Well, he does raise some good points. However, I get the impression that he has purchased a bunch of silver (or silver futures) and is trying to say anything he can to get other people to buy silver so that the price will go up. For example, he says that silver’s higher mass/value ratio is actually a good thing for people who want to use it as money because its high mass would make it hard to steal very much of it. That’s just silly. Back when money was backed by gold there were regular transfers of large amounts of gold from one country to another; any time the cost of shipping the gold was less than the cost from the currency exchange rate, people would ship the actual gold rather than the paper money. This wouldn’t be practical with silver. |
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| Scifor Refugee |
| Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 953
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| He also says some kind of strage things, like "The economists were proven wrong because people back then recognized the real situation--that dollars were defaulted contracts and fraudulent pieces of paper. " |
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| SkinWalker |
| Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 805
Location: Grand Prairie, TX
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It seems to be in line with the "monetary protestor" thing where people claim that since U.S. funds aren't actually covered by gold, they don't have to pay their debts.
I work as a collector for a major credit card company while I'm putting myself through school and I ran into one of these people a couple of months ago.
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| Scifor Refugee |
| Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:59 am Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 953
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| SkinWalker wrote: |
It seems to be in line with the "monetary protestor" thing where people claim that since U.S. funds aren't actually covered by gold, they don't have to pay their debts.
I work as a collector for a major credit card company while I'm putting myself through school and I ran into one of these people a couple of months ago. |
Ha...I would love to hear the explanation behind that reasoning... |
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| SkinWalker |
| Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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Moderator
Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 805
Location: Grand Prairie, TX
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I will make it a point to pull up that internal bulletin from our intranet and take some notes then pass it on here.
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| charles brough |
| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Bachelors Degree
Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Posts: 423
Location: joplin MO USA
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I love the subject of gold and silver! I once bought 3o ounces of gold bars in Indonesia. They were manficient! What a beautiful gleam! It is the most beautiful metal on earth!
Right now, India and China are very propserous---and in both, people love to wear gold. The Chinese take to gold shops where we have jewelry shops. There is so much 24 carrot gold jewelry in them that they emitt a gold shine that can be seen and sensed clear out in the street. In each jewelry display case one can find a small glass of water! It is unending Chinese custom for it to be there and there is no other reason for it. You ask the owners why they water is there and they have no explanation!
In Perth, Australia, they mine and mint gold, and at the mint is a stand with a brick of sold gold inside. Over it is a glass cover with a hole in it big endough to stick your hand and feel the gold. If you can pick it up with your hand, you can have it! But gold is heavy and the gold brick has been there a very long time!
If you take a lookl at the weekly spot price of gold, you will see a gradual accelerating trend upward. The reactions are getting smaller and the up moves steaper. What this means is that we are heading for a buying climax in the months or weeks ahead.
One is tempted to try to profit from that, but beware! There is no easier way to lose all your money and end up in debt than gold futures. Gold stocks bought on margin are also suicidal. I have a gold stock account (not on margin!) that saw a 24% total decline just in this last reaction we are just now climbing out of! I am ahead again, just now, but this is no way to live! If you do not care to sleep at night, do not mind feeling depressed and worried all the time, it is alright to buy cheap gold stocks! Otherwise, welcome yourself to a NORMAL life!
charles, http://humanpurpose.simplenet.com
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charles, http://humanpurpose.simplenet.com |
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| somberlaine |
| Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 16
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| I really don't think that he is trying to get people to buy silver in order to increase its price. Simply because you'd have to be fairly stupid to think this would work, and I don't believe he/she is that stupid. There's no way on earth that a few of us buying a couple of silver futures would have any impact on the market price. Unless he wants us to buy them off him.......the plot thickens... |
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| charles brough |
| Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Bachelors Degree
Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Posts: 423
Location: joplin MO USA
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I just read the whole long article. It was written by someone who knows his subject, but why would anyone use it here for discussion? It is two and half years old! All the charts are now obsolete. Conditions have not remained the same.
charles
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| kojax |
| Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 1:13 am Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 727
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It's an interesting paper for its perspective. I disagree that silver is better than gold for use as money for exactly the reason he thinks it is better: the vast majority of it is still underground.
That means the amount of silver on the market can be increased dramatically at any time if people simply start mining it. And, if the price ever does go up, that's exactly what will happen: people will start mining it more.
I mean: the main reason gold gets so popular from time to time is that it's a very effective hedge against inflation. The supply isn't going to go up, or at least not by very much. So, if you buy a bunch of gold before an inflation hike, you can sell it afterwards and it's value will (probably) have kept pace with the inflation. |
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| jackson33 |
| Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 1064
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silver has a marketable value, other than jewelry which is in fact the only value of gold. if it were still used to produce photographic paper, the value would be twice what it is today, which is 13.15 per ounce today.
both silver and gold are by products of mining, usually where copper is found. the fastest moving non-precious metal is Nickle which is 23.00 a pound and used in stainless steel. there are some strictly silver mines which have by products of other mineral, but somewhat rare. ironically one large and yet mined field is in Venezuela*. by the way copper is selling on the markets for about 3.35 per pound and the most common of all metal Aluminum is going for about 1.50 per pound.
all of the original theory for maintaining wealth through inflationary periods by buying gold are pretty much void in todays world. a lot had to do with the Hunt brothers, when a few years back managed to manipulate the silver prices up to 50.00 per ounce. many countries still hold gold reserves but the none come close to the value of the money value of there GDP.
*Crystal Mining Company, KRY stock ticker holds the rights, but waiting for permission to mine, which may not come...
Kitco.com, is the largest world trader in metals, also has a very good site to follow the world activity and current prices. at any time my computer is on, i see current precious metal current quotes from around the world. |
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