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Again, the same is true for gold and several other metals.

by cseelus 14y ago

betterunix 14y ago
Yeah, and there are very few markets in the world where the weight of some quantity of metal is used as currency. Let's put it this way: if you had no money at all, and I gave you a gold coin, how would you pay for your dinner?
- pbreit 14y ago
  Same way I'd pay for it if you gave me a Euro. Except that I know where I can turn gold into cash.
  - betterunix 14y ago
    Except that there are markets where Euros are the currency. Can you actually name a market where weights of gold or other metals are used as currency without first looking it up?
    - Zigurd 14y ago
      Yes, there are gold dealers all over the place. You might get a lousy deal, but the currency exchange at the airport will give you a lousy deal on a pocket full of Euros, too.
      - betterunix 14y ago
        That is like saying that beer is a currency because there are beer dealers all over the place.
        Zigurd 14y ago
        Sort of. I suppose there is some secondary market in beer. Near a college, maybe? You can readily hock a car for money, so that's a few levels closer to being a currency. You can sell used media. But there are people in the business of buying and selling gold for the sole purpose of readily converting it to currency and vica versa so that gold can be used as an alternative to paper currency managed by a nation's central bank. That's almost all that gold is used for, and that's what dealers in gold coin and gold bars are in business to enable.
        betterunix 14y ago
        Except that in practice, weights of gold are not used as a medium of exchange in almost every market in the world. Gold may be used as a store of value, but so can land, buildings, collector's items, etc. One of the defining characteristics of currency is its use as a medium of exchange in a market.
- dragonwriter 14y ago
  > Yeah, and there are very few markets in the world where the weight of some quantity of metal is used as currency. Well, now there are few. Historically, though...

Again, the same is true for gold and several other metals.

by cseelus 14y ago

Again, the same is true for gold and several other metals.

Yeah, and there are very few markets in the world where the weight of some quantity of metal is used as currency. Let's put it this way: if you had no money at all, and I gave you a gold coin, how would you pay for your dinner?

pbreit 14y ago
Same way I'd pay for it if you gave me a Euro. Except that I know where I can turn gold into cash.
- betterunix 14y ago
  Except that there are markets where Euros are the currency. Can you actually name a market where weights of gold or other metals are used as currency without first looking it up?
  - Zigurd 14y ago
    Yes, there are gold dealers all over the place. You might get a lousy deal, but the currency exchange at the airport will give you a lousy deal on a pocket full of Euros, too.
    - betterunix 14y ago
      That is like saying that beer is a currency because there are beer dealers all over the place.
      - Zigurd 14y ago
        Sort of. I suppose there is some secondary market in beer. Near a college, maybe? You can readily hock a car for money, so that's a few levels closer to being a currency. You can sell used media. But there are people in the business of buying and selling gold for the sole purpose of readily converting it to currency and vica versa so that gold can be used as an alternative to paper currency managed by a nation's central bank. That's almost all that gold is used for, and that's what dealers in gold coin and gold bars are in business to enable.
        betterunix 14y ago
        Except that in practice, weights of gold are not used as a medium of exchange in almost every market in the world. Gold may be used as a store of value, but so can land, buildings, collector's items, etc. One of the defining characteristics of currency is its use as a medium of exchange in a market.
dragonwriter 14y ago
> Yeah, and there are very few markets in the world where the weight of some quantity of metal is used as currency. Well, now there are few. Historically, though...