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> I don't think this is correct. Because as you can see the spot price of silver has gone down, the price for silver coins has gone up by more than double the a

> I don't think this is correct. Because as you can see the spot price of silver has gone down, the price for silver coins has gone up by more than double the amount the spot price has declined. Meaning, people are buying silver out of fear. > My guess is that this is the product of silver prices being driven by industry much more than gold prices are. We're looking at a supply side decline here which means a decline in demand for the things that go into making other things. > Gold is far less useful industrially than silver. For whatever reason, there is a common misconception regarding the usefulness of gold. Commonly on any of the popular investment shows and websites, you will see various people stating "gold has no use" without any measure of a qualifying statement. My perception is that these people likely mean "gold has no use [as an asset]." The degree to which this is correct is not what I'm trying to address, but rather the literal interpretation of the statement that could be read as "gold has [absolutely] no use." Here is the intro from the article on gold at geology.com[1], which doesn't have a dog in this fight: > What is Gold? > Native gold is an element and a mineral. It is highly prized by people because of its attractive color, its rarity, resistance to tarnish, and its many special properties - some of which are unique to gold. No other element has more uses than gold. All of these factors help support a price of gold that is higher than all but a few other metals. In case you missed that sentence in there: > No other element has more uses than gold. [1] https://geology.com/minerals/gold.shtml https://geology.com/minerals/gold.shtml

rafiki6 7y ago
The argument being made is about industrial use. Outside of electronics which have such little gold that it's not even worth the chemicals to extract it back out, Gold really doesn't have much use industrially. It's use as a currency and jewelry is quite obvious, but that's another human fiction like fiat currency. It has no other inherent value. We can't eat it. We can't even really wipe our butts with it. Gold is shiny, and remains shiny for a long time. End of story.
- generalpass 7y ago
  > The argument being made is about industrial use. Outside of electronics which have such little gold that it's not even worth the chemicals to extract it back out, Gold really doesn't have much use industrially. It's use as a currency and jewelry is quite obvious, but that's another human fiction like fiat currency. It has no other inherent value. We can't eat it. We can't even really wipe our butts with it. Gold is shiny, and remains shiny for a long time. End of story. Sounds like a very scientific position you've laid out here against the editors ate geology.com. Why don't you send that to them and post there response here?
  - DubiousPusher 7y ago
    From the Wikipedia entry on gold. "Only 10% of the world consumption of new gold produced goes to industry" Gold does have some industrial use and probably would have more if it weren't so expensive due to people valuing it as a reserve currency.
    - generalpass 7y ago
      > From the Wikipedia entry on gold. > "Only 10% of the world consumption of new gold produced goes to industry" > Gold does have some industrial use and probably would have more if it weren't so expensive due to people valuing it as a reserve currency. You aren't presenting a scientific argument. My entire point was that gold is useful and actually has more uses than any other element. Whatever else it is used for or the reasons the price is high do not present anything against my claim. It is so weird to just state scientific findings and be hated for it.
      - 8note 7y ago
        I'm not clear you know what science is. you have not made a scientific argument that gold has more uses than any other element nor does geology.com intuitively, gold is less useful and has fewer uses than iron since we tend to measure industrial output in terms of steel and not gold production tautologically though, hydrogen takes the cake for having the most uses since if you have enough of it, it can be fused into all the other elements.

rafiki6 7y ago

The argument being made is about industrial use. Outside of electronics which have such little gold that it's not even worth the chemicals to extract it back out, Gold really doesn't have much use industrially. It's use as a currency and jewelry is quite obvious, but that's another human fiction like fiat currency. It has no other inherent value. We can't eat it. We can't even really wipe our butts with it. Gold is shiny, and remains shiny for a long time. End of story.

generalpass 7y ago
> The argument being made is about industrial use. Outside of electronics which have such little gold that it's not even worth the chemicals to extract it back out, Gold really doesn't have much use industrially. It's use as a currency and jewelry is quite obvious, but that's another human fiction like fiat currency. It has no other inherent value. We can't eat it. We can't even really wipe our butts with it. Gold is shiny, and remains shiny for a long time. End of story. Sounds like a very scientific position you've laid out here against the editors ate geology.com. Why don't you send that to them and post there response here?
- DubiousPusher 7y ago
  From the Wikipedia entry on gold. "Only 10% of the world consumption of new gold produced goes to industry" Gold does have some industrial use and probably would have more if it weren't so expensive due to people valuing it as a reserve currency.
  - generalpass 7y ago
    > From the Wikipedia entry on gold. > "Only 10% of the world consumption of new gold produced goes to industry" > Gold does have some industrial use and probably would have more if it weren't so expensive due to people valuing it as a reserve currency. You aren't presenting a scientific argument. My entire point was that gold is useful and actually has more uses than any other element. Whatever else it is used for or the reasons the price is high do not present anything against my claim. It is so weird to just state scientific findings and be hated for it.
    - 8note 7y ago
      I'm not clear you know what science is. you have not made a scientific argument that gold has more uses than any other element nor does geology.com intuitively, gold is less useful and has fewer uses than iron since we tend to measure industrial output in terms of steel and not gold production tautologically though, hydrogen takes the cake for having the most uses since if you have enough of it, it can be fused into all the other elements.