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Why is gold so valuable?

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    Why is gold so valuable?

    You can't eat it, or use it to write Google. So why has it always been the investment of last resort?
    Speaking gibberish on internet talkboards since last Michaelmas. Plus here on Twitter

    #2
    In the eyes of stupid people who invested into junk bonds, securitised property bulltulip and other things buying gold is a safe thing.

    They probably think that because gold is harder to "print" compared to money it will save them from inflation. It may well do because others think so as well - it is a self maintaining pyramid, just like the housing market was when the prices can only go up.

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      #3
      Gold has always had at least some 'intrinsic' value. That is, a residual core worth quite separate from normal supply and demand dynamics. In a small way it violates the maxim: "an asset is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it".
      Cats are evil.

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        #4
        Cos it's rare, shiny and nice and doesn't lose it's lustre. Very pretty, and you can wear it. Contrast that with paper money. They can just print it, it rapidly becomes dirty and creased and you'd look pretty stupid wearing a load of 10ers.

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          #5
          Originally posted by Turion View Post
          Cos it's rare, shiny and nice and doesn't lose it's lustre. Very pretty, and you can wear it. Contrast that with paper money. They can just print it, it rapidly becomes dirty and creased and you'd look pretty stupid wearing a load of 10ers.
          Doesn't it have some good chemical properties too? I am sure they used some in that McLaren car.

          I reckon diamonds are better : hardest substance and all that.

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            #6
            Originally posted by MrMark View Post
            You can't eat it, or use it to write Google. So why has it always been the investment of last resort?
            You can, you can drink it too.

            Linky.

            I read somewhere that all the discovered gold in the world would fit under the arches at the base of the Eifel tower.
            Science isn't about why, it's about why not. You ask: why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired. - Cave Johnson

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              #7
              the value of Gold doesnt bother me too much.
              I'll tell you what bothers me.

              Diamonds are a girls best friend, but a dog is a mans best friend.
              Where's the equality in that ?
              Yet again white middle class men are being ripped off by the greed of the so-called womans movement



              (\__/)
              (>'.'<)
              ("")("") Born to Drink. Forced to Work

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                #8
                you can make nice teeth out of gold
                (\__/)
                (>'.'<)
                ("")("") Born to Drink. Forced to Work

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by BrilloPad View Post
                  Doesn't it have some good chemical properties too? I am sure they used some in that McLaren car.
                  Gold is one of the best conductors of electricity, better than copper and miles better than mud.

                  When I was an engineer we'd sometimes put a very thin plate of gold on edge connectors. I sometimes wonder how much gold is lost in industrial scrap.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Doggy Styles View Post
                    Gold is one of the best conductors of electricity, better than copper and miles better than mud.

                    When I was an engineer we'd sometimes put a very thin plate of gold on edge connectors. I sometimes wonder how much gold is lost in industrial scrap.
                    Loads of valuable metals must be shipped out of the UK in old circuit boards and CRTs etc, to end up on giant scrap heaps in places like Nigeria.

                    Not sure how economical it would be to try and reclaim it in acid baths and suchlike though. But if the pound keeps sinking there must come a point when that is viable.
                    Work in the public sector? Read the IR35 FAQ here

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