So what's up with gold?

[Ed Anger]

Xiacob has some nunchucks.

[Admiral Yi]

I used to have nunchaku.  Used to be pretty good with 'em.

[derspiess]

Ed will hire his own private army of Xenians.

[derspiess]

I used to have nunchaku.  Used to be pretty good with 'em.

[Admiral Yi]

You won't be laughing after my "two dragons roaring out to sea" have made noticeable impact craters in Teh Forehead.

[Ed Anger]

Ed will hire his own private army of Xenians.

White trash cannon fodder.

[DGuller]

You're a better man than I am.  I am not sorry for them at all, since those people tend to be the nuttiest of the libertardian nutters.

The two people I know personally who bought gold are lefties.

Well, they deserve it for acting like the nuttiest of the libertardian nutters.

[Ideologue]

I guess that goes to what I was saying.  That the reason it was good as money is because we didn't need it for anything else.  Needing it for industrial uses when it is being used as money serves to make those industries pay an outrageous price so it is counterproductive.  Before we did not have a problem like this.  Iron would have been a poor metal for money for that reason (well that and it rusts and is ugly and so forth).

Well, it had no practical value until modern times it is true, but had (and has) a very high decorative value, in the form of rings, crowns, etc.

Someone may've mentioned this already, but gold does deserve credit for being extremely chemically neutral, so that it could persist as a store of value better than, say, potatoes.  This in addition to its easy workability does make it ideal for a physical currency in a pre-paper, paper-poor, and generally filthy society.

In a land where most money is on computers, it's pretty dumb.

[Ideologue]

The main reason gold is valuable is that it is both beautiful and rare, and very easily worked - so perfect for making valuable jewelry out of. That established its value, and its use in coins etc. comes from that.

And doesn't rust/deteriorate.

OK, I guess someone did mention it already.

[Ideologue]

I feel sorry for the poor schlubs who have invested heavily in gold as a "hedge against inflation."

You're a better man than I am.  I am not sorry for them at all, since those people tend to be the nuttiest of the libertardian nutters.

Yi has a soft spot for anarcho-reactionaries?  Don't buy it.  Just doesn't fit his character.

[DGuller]

I wonder how much the Bitcoin saga played into the fall of the gold price.  It could be that watching one useless and baseless currency soar and crash made a critical mass of people realize that gold is not that different.

[Admiral Yi]

I think this talk about a speculative bubble popping is a little premature.  Gold's at like 1,300 an ounce, right?

[Jacob]

Xiacob has some nunchucks.

I have never owned nunchucks, nor nuns... but I have owned Chuck Taylors, several pairs in fact.

[CountDeMoney]

In a land where most money is on computers, it's pretty dumb.

I dunno...when the money on the computers disappear--and it will--portable wealth comes in handy.

Look at Ed;  all his rubies and sapphires are stashed away and hidden in his AD&D dice bags.

[Ed Anger]

In a land where most money is on computers, it's pretty dumb.

I dunno...when the money on the computers disappear--and it will--portable wealth comes in handy.

Look at Ed;  all his rubies and sapphires are stashed away and hidden in his AD&D dice bags.

Guarded by kobolds.