I know people out there who have invested a lot in gold under the belief that in the event of like complete societal collapse or hyperinflation, they could use it for purchasing.

I have the hunch it’s a scam, but I haven’t learned enough monetary theory, business, or economics to understand why.

  • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
    141·
    20 hours ago

    Short answer: Yes.

    Long answer: Yes. Tune all of that nonsense out… But don’t fret if you own a tiny bit, either.

    I kind of like Warren Buffet’s ramblings on it:

    Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.

    You could take all the gold that’s ever been mined, and it would fill a cube 67 feet in each direction. For what that’s worth at current gold prices, you could buy all – not some – all of the farmland in the United States. Plus, you could buy 10 Exxon Mobils, plus have $1 trillion of walking-around money. Or you could have a big cube of metal. Which would you take?

    • Random Dent@lemmy.mlEnglish
      7·
      19 hours ago

      I feel like you could still do very well in life if you controlled literally all the gold in the world, but also he is Warren Buffet and my current wallet is one that I found on the ground, so I am willing to defer to the experts here.

      (NB, the wallet was empty, I’m no savage)