Lucky Timing

what is "paper money" worth anyway?LOL bout all it is worth anymore is to wipe your...well, you get the idea.

actually "paper money" under current conditions (FIAT) isn't worth anything. It is only a promise and a negotiation tool even though it has no tangible backing behind it. Todays FIAT currency would be akin to going to a pawnshop with a piece of paper that says "IOU $500" and getting a $100 loan against it. If the next person doesn't believe it is a real promise, it isn't worth anything. Todays money in america is simply trusted blindly because we all suffer from some form of mass dillusion that it is really worth anything. When again you examine what I just said....gold, silver, platinum...they are all just alternative forms of "negotiation tools", and equally just a promise as you, the holder of the precious metal really cant "do" anything with it to sustain your life. If you really want to get down to it...the only true items of value are the things that sustain us....food, water, clothes...etc. With that being said...maybe I should be investing in seeds instead of silver.

Nod thats true, but you have to take into account the next sentence as well



While it is true you can buy and sell things with it, its also true that its only worth that because we say so and no other reason. If the government fell apart it would be worth nothing. Even a situation like greece would severely devalue it. In the past when PMs were part of money even if the country fell apart the money would have still had value for the metal. Currently our money does have value, but nothing backing it so it could in fact be worth nothing one day.

You and roller are both right

Interesting conversation on the value or worth of fiat currency. I understand BOTH sides of the conversation. No, fiat is not of any intrinsic value whatever but it IS of commercial value in that everyone else thinks that it has value and treats it as such. Anyone here refuse fiat in exchange for their labor? Fiat currency CAN be traded to just about anyone for just about any goods or services we'd care to buy. Very few merchants will refuse cash in exchange for the goods or services they sell. That makes it worth something insofar as being a facilitator of trade. As far as its use as a store of value? Fuggetaboutit! Fiat currency has all the staying power of ice dropped on the sidewalk at noon in August.

I would disagree with that. Its been used as money and to facilitate trade for thousands of years. Thats good enough to me to say it has established its value.

If your measuring stick is usefulness in and of itself then no money has value only, food/water and items that can be used to get food like a gun.

Nod is essentially correct...the only intrinsic value that gold has is that it is good to make money out of....it lasts, is durable, and rare....all the qualities you would want to make money out of. That being said, it sounds a bit ironic that gold's only true value is that it can be used to represent value! Try wrapping your brain around that one!

There is also something about silver and gold. There's something about it that draws you to it. When you hold it in your hands, you really *feel* it.

(Probably because they're some of the best conductors of heat and electricity there are.)

In any case, aye, the only kind of 'gold' you can eat are foil-wrapped chocolate coins.

Give me 100 acres of wooded land with a view of the mountains and I'll show you real wealth. :-)