I understand now why some of the banks are in trouble I went into the local Bank of America on Fri. for some info. I told the clerk I needed to know if they sold gold coins ( I wasnt sure if they did) He said oh yes we have some of the new gold president coins. I then told no I want a real gold coin and not the play things He calls over the Manager and I get the same story he told me. After I explained to her I was looking for prices on "Gold Coins" I think she understood and told me no. Maybe we will make it out of this mess but no sure

bye
cruxyn
t1jt2t

Yup..that explains why the banks are in trouble all right.

Isn't that similar to going into a grocery store and asking for food and when they bring some, look at them sideways and say, "Food"?

Maybe I'm missing something.

Perhaps you forgot to wink and flash them the sign when you asked for 'the Real Gold Coins.'
They might have just misunderstood where you were coming from. Don't most people get an appointment with their 'guy?'

good luck crux



btw, that link in your sig needs some work, unless it's polymorphic?

Banks don't deal in gold, they provide accounting and vaulting services for currency and a few other items. There are gold dealers that deal in gold. If you want something you should go to the right store. It'd be like going to a grocery store and asking to buy lumber, then getting peeved when they show you the housewares isle.

The current spot price for gold is published in a hundred places. If you buy contracts for gold delivery you'll get a better price than trying to go thru a retail broker (they charge a large spread over spot, usually), but of course a contract like that is for 100 troy ounces which means you'll need at least a $100k to invest. Still, if you plan to invest in gold...

lost

I *think* the point this crux guy was trying to make is that there is no more gold standard? That's a big problem imo, but it still doesn't explain why he expected a bank to sell him some gold.

I don't reallly understand why more people aren't worried about the lack of a gold standard (or somethign similar). It means that the private organizations that control the supply of money can create the stuff out of thin air, debasing the value of the cash I have in the bank.

Isn't that a huge problem?

Instead of forcing everything to be tied to gold, we simply said "If you want to tie your assets to gold, then buy gold."

These days you can pretty much buy however much you want.

But there's no choice; if I run a business then by law I have to accept dollars - I can't insist on gold or any other currency.

I always get confused when I start thinking about it...

Yes but you can convert that into gold if you choose. Requiring gold is bad for business, since there isn't enough physical gold to go around prices would be tied to the market price of a limited commodity (gold), allowing easy manipulation. With paper currency people there's no supply problem, so the price of a dollar floats based on other elements. If you don't want your savings floating around an inflationary pond you can always convert it into something else.

None of this effects wage earners, since X amount of time is worth Y amount of money, and as prices go up so does demand pressure on wages. The problem comes with savings. But that's the point, by having dollars decay slowly over time people are forced to invest their money in places where it'll generate a positive ROI. Monetary policy stimulates investment.

If you feel that gold is a viable place to put your savings then buy some. You are free to invest as you will.

I'll have to think about it. What you're saying makes sense to me now, but an opposing viewpoint also made sense to me... that only seems to happen with economics problems.

The value of the dollar today isn't based on precious metals anymore so much as on the value of labor and assets. If jobs are scarce, then more than likely it's described as a reccesson because very little of the popluation can afford to buy, let alone save. If jobs are plentiful, it leads to more spending and manufacturing which in turns means more assets for each person and bigger bank accounts.

I don't mean to be a complete balloon deflater here, but, I have to.


I went ahead and fixed that for you.

: two simultaneous quarters experiencing negative GDP growth. (Its cause has nothing to do with its definition)

As far as the rest of it, I think you have cause and effect reversed, but, that's another post.

Cause and effect reversed? lol That's sort of like saying the egg came before the chicken or the chicken came before the egg. Each one causes the other. Most of the time a depression or recession occurs when they aren't balanced.

It's exactly as you said it is. There is no 'cause', it's all perception and mostly a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people believe things are bad, they hoard their money and things slow down. If they believe things are doing well, they don't and the economy thrives. I see things opposite from you in economic matters.