The Real (but not
tangible) Mystery is What Form Will It Take? Be indulgent. Let me explain. But,
first I must skip the long history of how we went through humans’ ingenious ways
of debasing gold and silver coins. Sovereign nations have armies so they can
force the people to accept disgraceful debasing, degrading actions. Today the
world has a replacement for gold and silver with another kind of money – fiat
money or paper and electronic media. This kind of money is the promise of
sovereign nations that they will always (forever?) provide their full faith and
credit along with their taxing power to stand behind the paper currency they
issue. Most important they will force their citizens to accept the paper
currency (or its equivalent) as legal tender in full payment of all debts owed
between debtors and creditors.
When one thinks of Caligula, the Weimar
Republic, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Idi Ahmin and other terrible leaders forcing
paper money on us in exchange for real things and land rent it is scary. So
scary that many want to return to the gold standard by means of which all
nations would be bound to let gold be the measure of the worth or value of any
nation’s currency. The simple-minded idea is that if gold was bought or sold on
the open market it would continuously set the value of money, for instance, the
dollar bill. Gold is not a Cowrie Shell but it is Still a Shell Game The
“gold-bugs” who promote the gold standard are dealers in gold who are playing a
con-game to leverage the price of their gold by finding “greater fools” among
others. This is because gold is no longer a rare commodity without utility.
Today, is the molecular age of biochemistry.
Modern technology has
created a demand for gold and silver as industrial metals and for use in
medicine. Furthermore, its supply (quantity) is subject to change at the whim of
only a few governments that have more gold in the ground (gold mines), than
other countries who have exhausted their gold mines. Thus gold is a political
football subject to power in diplomatic games by Russia, South Africa, and other
major payers who are so blessed by the caprice of nature. In addition, gold and
silver supply can be (and is ) manipulated by traders who buy it up for short
periods (see Jay Gould and the Hunt brothers). They boost the price then dump it
to cause fraudulent volatility in the so-called ‘free’ market for the metals.
Finally, the gold bugs can not be trusted by the general population any more
than one can trust governments.
They are always using the concept “there
is a greater fool than me out there.” It operates like this. I will buy to run
up the price. This will pull the little guy into the market then (because I
watch the market more closely than the small buyer is able to do -he is busy
making a living), I will sell before those naïve, ignorant gold buyers know that
the price is about to fall off the cliff of its artificially inflated price.
Then being smarter than those fools, the Gold Trader will use the so-called
money (gain in quantity held) to buy real wealth like land, and useful
commodities. Thereby the gold bugs will transfer the hard earned assets of the
small buyer into their greedy hands. It works cyclically every time. Clearly the
manipulated supply of gold and silver and the so-called market price are not to
be trusted.